Whirlpool Dream
by Dunestyler
Summary: What if the Uzumaki clan came to be in a way no one thought possible? what if Naruto had help before Sasuke left? hanyou Naruto, friendly Kurama, pairing: NaruHina. rated M because I'm lazy... btw: I don't own Naruto in any way or form
1. A Dream and a truth

Naruto whirled around, Chokutō in hand, haori blazing, enemies being just a blur of pictures, the sounds of his blade clinging against theirs. Always whirling and whirling, his feet in a staccato of steps. Slowly he makes out the amount of enemies he is fighting. It is five in the immediate vicinity. Another clash of weapons. Step. Step. Step. Clash. Step. Step. Step. Clash. Always whirling.

Finally both sides disengage. Naruto makes out the silhouettes of five ninja, seemingly jounin level. But with his blurry sight he has a hard time, recognizing them clearly.

They start making handsigns and his hands, too start moving, weaving sign after sign. First there is a pop. Two clones on each of his sides.

Hands making signs in a blur.

At once both sides let go of fearsome attacks. Still he feels totally calm, amused even. The other side calls out several names for jutsu. He just still stands there, smirking to himself. Then he and his clones say only one word.

**Boom.**

The jounins' jutsu clash with just one of his and disperse. Four more jutsu of the same kind still move towards the jounin at high speed…

In a flash Naruto sits up, sweating as if he ran around Konoha several times in a sprint, his eyes hurting and mind a mess with all the thoughts of this weird dream.

'_There can't be someone as powerful as to play with such skillful enemies as if they were kids… right?'_

When his vision cleared, he looked at his clock on his nightstand. And saw: he was late for the academy.

It's half only a year to the next Genin exams and on that exact day there was a Taijutsu tournament in the academy.

With a cry of "shit" Naruto jumped out of his bed to get ready. And after nearly falling several times when trying to brush his teeth while pulling his trousers on, he stepped out of his apartment.

But of course he had to race to the academy.

While he ran he was so much in a hurry, he didn't see the shocked stares of the villagers instead of the constant glares they usually threw him.

And since he didn't even notice this difference, he would, of course, not even notice what triggered these changes.

As he reached the academy grounds several minutes before the start of classes, this was the first time, he noticed that he usually would be too late, even though he ran as fast as he could. And he did not know why he made it that day.

'_Whoa I was nearly late again today. And I didn't even want to play pranks, not that I did. Iruka-sensei would still have been pissed_.' As it rang to signal the start of classes he swiftly moved towards Irukas classroom.

He just reached the classroom as Iruka started to check everyones' presence.

"Ah sorry Iruka-sensei, I kind of overslept."

"Naruto! Make sure your alarm is turned on next time! Now sit down." Iruka answeres angily.

Naruto sat down in the only free seat in class. Near a weird girl by the name of Hinata, who was totally different than any other girl in class and thereby nearly every girl he ever met. I mean: she did not pursuit a relationship with Uchiha Sasuke, nor did she cheer for him. At all. How uncommon is that?

Further she was too shy to even speak properly without stuttering and always turned red, when Naruto so much as looked at her.

But back to the topic at hand: class.

As always at the beginning of a class Iruka and Mizuki would greet their students followed by explaining what they wanted to do today. The later they did because of the special occasions like the tournament to take place that day.

So after checking everyones' presence, Iruka stepped up. "Good Morning, class.", A chorus of "Good Moring, Iruka-sensei"s was heard, "As you all know today will be a Taijutsu tournament. Therefore we will go outside to the academy training gounds. Besides: you are training to become shinobi, so to make it realistic, girls and boys will compete in the same tournament, not separated ones." A grown went through class at that.

Now any other time there was any Taijutsu training, naruto would have been near the bottom of the class. But that day he made it to Kiba in the semi-finals and was then defeated. No one, not even he knew how that was possible, since he didn't even use a new stance or style, still a sloppy form of the academy Taijutsu, which did not provide any stability. The only difference from other times was his speed and strength, which he did not train enough for those improvements.

Aside from that he still couldn't help but brag about it.

Still he hoped this time he would be able to succeed in the genin exams and this would only be of use to him.

That night though he lay awake, still thinking about this weird dream he had. _How could anyone be that strong_? He knew those five shinobi had to be at least jounin level, according to the scale of jutsu they used and it still was not enough for them to beat the person he dreamt to be in this dream. _No way anyone could do this! I bet it was totally unrealistic._ But still he couldn't get this weird dream out of his mind. it just wouldn't budge but had to cling to his thoughts.

Finally, he made a decision. _I'm going to ask Hokage-jiji tomorrow. It's Friday after all._

* * *

The next day, after dressing and a morning ration of instant-ramen, he went straight to the hokage tower. After arriving there and going in through the main entrance (which else) he heard the hokages' secretary shout after him… something about a meeting underway and the hokage not having time for someone like him anyways. "yeahyeah I get it. Doesn't have time for me whatever he does." Naruto just shouted and ran up the stairs, just entering Sarutobi Hiruzens' office without knocking. And barking a "Hey jiji!". After which said person looked up, along with two other elder people, who turned around to glare at Naruto.

Hiruzen just smiled at Naruto, who grinned back, and said: "good morning Naruto. Meet my advisors, dear friends and village elders Homura and Koharu.".

"Hello oldies". Of course, after him saying this they spiked a little bit of KI at him, which, funny enough, didn't deter him in the slightest.

"Ok Naruto. I'll just finish this meeting and call you in as soon as I can, alright?" Hiruzen asked.

"Alright" Naruto echoed and went out.

As the door opened again Homura and Koharu left with Koharu shouting "this won't be the last you hear about this, Hiruzen!" and both of them throwing a glare towards Naruto who grinned at both of them just to spite them.

"Ok, Naruto! Come in." Hiruzen called.

"Hey Jiji, I hope they didn't give you too much trouble?" asked Naruto.

"No, Nauto. They didn't. by the way I heard you did really good at the tournament yesterday? Scored somewhere around 3rd or 4th?"

"yes! I was awesome!" exclaimed Naruto, fist pumping the air.

Hiruzen snickered at that. "I know you were, Naruto. Now I believe you wanted to talk to me about something?"

"Yes uhm… I kinda had a funny dream the other night."

"What kind of dream, Naruto? Can you describe it?"

"yeah uhm… it was about a fight between ninja. I was one of them and there were five others. I kinda fought against all of them at once. I was SO strong Jiji. You would not believe it. They even looked like Jounin and in my dream I just played around with them like they were nothing. At first I had a funny sword in my hand, like a Katana but straight instead. I just kind of… danced. Like it was a sunny day and I don't know… It was as if every step I took was… planned… somehow, yet still not. So as I said I first fought with that funny sword against those five jounin and then I just jumped back, and they did the same. And I made four clones. Four jiji! And then… and then all of them and me made seals. We were so fast, we were done like in a second. Then there were so strong attacks from them, my clones could also use jutsu, by the way, and I just felt like laughing and I don't know what but I said something and threw my own Jutsu, my clones did, too, and then the first of mine just wiped out the other jutsu. And there still were four more of them… and then I woke up."

Hiruzen had to snicker at this "So Naruto. This was your dream, huh?" a nod "ok now. What made you come here I mean: aside from how awesome a dream that was?"

"Uhm… I wanted to ask you: Is that really possible? Are there ninja out there who can toy around with jounin, and I don't mean one but FIVE jounin, and still win so easily? If yes, how?" was the desperate question coming from Naruto.

Hiruzen now sighed, sternly looked at Naruto and said: " Yes Naruto, there are. In fact, I may come close to what you described. I'm not as strong as you said you were in that dream of yours but I'm not too far away from that."Naruto was surprised to hear this and got a thoughtful look on his face.

"Now I'll tell you something else, Naruto, so listen up." This made Naruto look at Hiruzen with wide eyes to take in everything he says.

"I believe that there will come a day that you will be as strong as that person in your dream. I truly believe you have what it takes to toy with all the five Kage and come out the victor and more. But: do not think you can be arrogant when you get strong. Power means responsibility, just like being Hokage means being responsible for every person in this village, power means being responsible for what you do with it. So you better train hard and make me proud." Hiruzen sternly said. The end with a smile on his face.

Narutos' own smile widened with every word he said, until it widened to a grin. But not the kind everyone ever saw, the fake ones, but this time, a genuine one.

"you bet, jiji!" Naruto shouted, jumping up from his seat in front of the Hokages' desk. "I'll be the strongest and the best hokage ever, believe it!"

"I do, Naruto. That I do. Now, I believe, you should go and train the Genin exams are coming up soon again and you will want to do your best, am I right?"

"Yes jiji" with that Naruto stormed out of the office and onto the streets of Konoha, from which he went further to a near training ground to do what he was supposed to: train.

* * *

Several Months later, we find Naruto carrying the scroll of seals… nothing else to say, do I now?

So he failed the genin exams. Again. And that just because he couldn't do a simple Bunshin. Again. Now he stole the Scroll of Sealing, because Mizuki told him, that if he stole it and brought it to a certain spot in the woods and learned one of its jutsu, Naruto would be made Genin.

So as Naruto finally found the spot Mizuki told him about, he immediately looks at the scroll. What he finds there is called: Kage Bunshin no Jutsu and since Naruto had problems with the normal Bunshin no Jutsu, which is a simple Genjutsu, not that he knows that, he just tries it out.

An hour later, Iruka found Naruto and questions him about why he stole the scroll of sealing and after the explanation Mizuki shows up.

Mizuki tells Naruto about the Kyuubi, that is sealed in him and after some denial from Naruto, a little chasing around from Mizuki, who wounded Iruka, by the way, we finally come to the point of interest:

Mizuki just threw the big-ass shuriken at Iruka, to kill said person. In a blur, Naruto blocks the attack on his teacher, and with determination in his eyes and stance, still with the scroll, holding it like he would a cane, he tells Mizuki, that it was a bid mistake to attack Iruka.

"No matter what you do, I will not let you kill Iruka-sensei! I will beat you to the ground" he roared, his face in a snarl.

But what he didn't know or see was, that his face and fingers changed, along with his, still blue eyes, gaining a slit as a pupil. His chakra spiked to visible levels with a little, orange, tint to it. "Ah so the demon finally shows itself, huh? Still. You think you could beat me in that body? Think again, Demon! What will you ever be able to do, I can beat you with one strike!" was Mizukis' reaction to that, confusing Naruto a little with his speech about a demon showing himself.

"I don't know what you're talking about, but I will return every blow you land thousandfold." With that he formed a cross shaped handseal and roared "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" .

After pummelting Mizuki half to death, Naruto received Irukas headband and was brought to the Hokage.

When arriving he was once again greeted by Hiruzen "Hello Naruto. Come here and give the scroll to me, please." Hiruzen held out his hands in which Naruto lay the scroll.

"I'm sure you have a lot of questions and I'm inclined to answer them. At least most of them. Understand, that I will not be able to give you an answer to any question you might have, since some are village secrets, even some of those concerning you. So to keep you safe, I will have to keep some of those afromentioned secrets. Do you understand?"

Naruto shook his head: "No."

This got a bewildered look on Hiruzens face. "why not?"

"I don't understand what 'afro-… something' means" chuckled Naruto, scratching his neck.

Hiruzen had to chuckle at that "Ah I see. It means mentioned earlier."

"Oh" came the intelligent answer from Naruto. "But… why can't you tell me the secrets about me? Shouldn't I know things like that I'm the fox demons' … uhm… what do you say… uhm…"

"Jailer, warden, guardian. That's what you are." After Naruto's confused look he decided to explain.

"You are the one to keep everyone safe from the terror that is the Kyuubi. But. You may not be as human as you thought all the time, still you are far from being as demonic, as many think you to be, Naruto."

Naruto had a look of fear on his face "What do you mean? What am I then?"

"You are what's called a hanyou. A half-demon." Hiruzen slowly stated

"WHAT? SO I'M EVIL?" was the cry that was the response to Hiruzens statement.

"No, Naruto. Far from it. In fact, you are not even the child of a demon, like most would think of a hanyou, instead you are the last of a long line of hanyou, who are far from evil and so are you. The difference is quite simple really. The only thing that is demonic about you is your wrath or other feelings, perhaps even the amount and density of chakra you have, but your personality is more humain than that of many in this village. Did you not once help little Hinata-chan, saving her from bullies? Do you not try to help out everyone you can? Do you not like to play with Shikamaru and Choji? Did you know that most of the people I just named are looked down upon because of their personalities? Yet you push through all the things you had to live through and tried nothing but to be helpful and friendly. It's the village that is more demonic than you! Besides: being a hanyou gives you strength and chakra levels beyond that of a human. Having the Kyuubi sealed in you just makes those traits so much stronger. Use those traits, Naruto. Especially since it seems like you unlocked more of your hanyou strength today, just before you beat Mizuki. Use it. But use it for the good of the people around you, Naruto. I trust you will do that?"

After this long speech Naruto couln't help but be in awe of what this meant. True he was a little anxious of how right some villagers were with calling him a demon but delighted to know the hokage believed in both. His human and his demonic traits. "Hai jiji! Believe it!"

"that's good Naruto. Now… I would guess you need some sleep?" the sun was already rising at the horizon. But still Naruto nodded at that with a yawn. "So then just go ahead. But get your shinobi-license done later on. And do NOT make fun of that or ruin your foto with anything. Is that clear?" – the last part was said with a commanding voice promising pain when not abiding.

Naruto cowered a little at that and with a shaky voice said: "Hai jiji." After which he left to go to bed.

* * *

So the day after his little run in and tutoring of Konohamaru, which, by the way, was after NOT messing up the foto for his shinobi-license he went training to a local training ground.

What he did not expect was his stamina and speed rocketing up. While both were about high Genin before, he could now easily go at mid chuunin speeds and not be at his maximum.

Same with strength his hits, while sloppy, were strong enough to shatter some of the trees he tried it against and his Kunai and shuriken went deep into the target logs. He even took longer to tire out on his training regimen.

It was noon as he started tiring, so he just decided to take a break. He sent out a shadow clone to get himself some ramen, but after waiting some minutes he received some memories, indicating the clone met Sakura, who beat him saying, I'm sorry, screeching is the right word, something like "Don't wear a headband just to try and look cool, baka!"

He asked himself what that means. I mean: he wasn't even there but still got the memories of a simple Kage Bunshin and finally decided he will use it for stuff like reading, which he never liked anyway. Or how about some chakra-exercises? Making three clones, he told each of them what to do. "you" pointing at the first "are going to get me some ramen!" the first one left "you" the second one "will read some scrolls that lie around in my apartment!" a groaning was heard "really? Do I have to?" the clone asked. "yes. Get to it now!" the second one left. "And you" the third one "are going to do some leaf-balancing." Another groan "yes I know I don't like it as well, that's why you will do it. Move it!" and with that the third one sat on one of the training logs around the training ground with leaves in his hands and do the infamous (to Naruto) leaf-balancing-exercise. Naruto himself went to further relax. It's a break after all.

He further trained this way the rest of the week but had an idea just two days afterwards (meaning: three left to the team assignments) 'what, if I could train my demonic abilities?' he then got another one: _'I can just go ask jiji perhaps he knows of a way to do it and perhaps I should tell him that I know about the special ability of the Kage Bunshin'_.

So he went to Hiruzen and when he asked about it (of course in absence of the ANBU guarding the hokage).

The answer to his first question was: "One of my students, Jiraya, might be able to answer this question and perhaps even help you with this problem, as well as perhaps even using the chakra of the Kyuubi. He wanted to be back in some months, but I guess I could ask him to come sooner. I'll tell you when he's back."

To the other question he said "Oh so you found out already? Good. Now I should tell you to be careful. Dispelling too many of the Kage Bunshin might give you headaches or even make you lose consciousness, so don't use more than 10 at once at first. This restriction only is for learning and training purposes, in battle, use as many as you have to.

"Besides: you should use several of them for chakra control, since that's a problem of yours, as far as the academy records say, one to read up on stuff and the rest for things like taijutsu-kata.

"Ah I forgot about this."

he stood up and took a scroll from a drawer looked at it for a moment and seemed to decide or reminisce on something. Finally he turned towards Naruto again to hand him the scroll. One with a cyan colored swirl on it

"I want to give you this scroll, Naruto. It contains descritions of a taijutsu style called Uzuken, the Whirlpool fist and it's kenjutsu counterpart, the Uzusōkon, the whirlpool slash. I want you to learn some of the Uzuken and then we can talk about the Uzusōkon. The Uzuken, both are, just so you know, the styles of your ancestors, very powerful and perftect for a trickster like you. Learn well, Naruto. Will you?"

Naruto then gave Hiruzen a bis hug and left with a "Hai jiji" and a big smile on his face.

* * *

Now we find Naruto on the way to the academy for his team assignments. Of course he was very excited about this and hoped he wouldn't be stuck with Sasuke Uchiha and get a good jounin-sensei. He already questioned his affections for Sakura Haruno, since every time his clones, (mostly ones that went to get ramen), ran into her, they got dispelled after a meeting with her fist.

He already went as far as secretly thinking his bad grades are partially because of Sakura beating the memories out of his brain.

When finally arriving at his assigned classroom, Naruto just sat down in a seat in the back of the room. He was way too early, just as early as he always started his training this last week. It was about 8:30, assignments would only begin at 9:45, so more than an hour left.

He took a scroll on low-level sealing with him to read. It was a scroll that was passed out in the academy to teach the students the principles behind storage scrolls with minor hints at explosive notes, as well as a description on how to make a sealing scroll.

His clones of course did their own thing while he waited for the assignments to start and the whole class to come.

While reading several others came walking in and while seeing him, no one bothered to care about it, even less bothering to ask him about his presence.

But of course one girl was delighted to see him here, even though he did something untypical for him: reading.

That girl was Hinata Hyuuga, totally underrated heiress of the hyuuga clan, who was not able to do the basic Juuken-moves to a (for her father) satisfactory extent.

What no one saw in her, that she was, was the capable leader and her real potential to see a person for who they are. But as the Hyuuga-clan only respected strength and power, those traits were ignored in favor of praising the power, talent and strength of her cousin and her sister, instead.

What this does to a girl growing up should be obious: self-respect is clearly non-existant and aside from that she even sees herself as weak, unattractive and is too shy to approach her crush. Besides that she stutters a lot and falls unconscious because of nervousness sometimes.

Of course Naruto was totally undeterred by the presence of his classmates. Instead he was focused on the scroll on sealing. Especially since everything he read in it instantly made sense to him. He even took out a pen to write down the schemata of the seals and every part and even went as part as pointing out flaws in the presented example.

He found himself fascinated of the workings of seals and found them to be the easiest, but most intriguing thing he had ever seen. He had never thought he would think this was, especially since no one, not even Sakura or Sasuke ever understood anything in the sporadic sealing lessons they had.

But on the other hand the teachers never were anywhere near sealsmasters. The last week, he found out the fourth Hokage and Jiraya of the sannin were the only real, known, sealsmasters in Konoha and there were only three others in all of the elemental nations, namely: in all the big five, except Kaze no Kuni (Suna lies in the deserts of Kaze no Kuni, also known as wind country).

In Suna and Taki there were adept users of fuinjutsu, but no masters whatsoever, which didn't mean their seals weren't impressive. Hell, they were able to seal bijuu, how is that if not impressive?

At some point, Naruto was interrupted from his reading. It was by a boisterous boy named Kiba who wanted to know what he did in this classroom and was the first one to approach an unusually sober Naruto.

"Hey Naruto! What the hell are you doing here? Only those who passed are supposed to be here, so get out and come back next year, dobe."

"Kiba, it's good you wouldn't just want anyone to be in our teams but could you please look at my forehead? I even wear it standard." he pointed at his forehead "now do you see what I mean? May I perhaps go on, this scroll in quite interesting"

"what kind of scroll would be interesting for someone like you, dobe?" that was the voice of the heartthrob of this class and several other girls in Konoha, Uchiha Sasuke, last member of the Uchiha clan and supposed prodigy. He came over to look at what Naruto read "So sealing is interesting to you? Such a useless art would only ever be interesting to a dobe like you."

"yeahyeah, Sasuke, always the cool one. If you don't get something it's worthless to you. But you should not underrate fuinjutsu. After all, all your explosive tags are just seals, nothing else." Naruto answered and turned back to his reading. Which he was then left alone to do until Iruka came in, still bandaged.

"Good morning, class. Today we you will be assigned to your teams. We tried to balance these teams according to your performance during your stay in the academy and in the genin exams. Team one is…

"Team seven, Uzumaki Naruto, Haruno Sakura and Uchiha Sasuke…" the class was dumbstruck that there was only one yell of "Damn" and then "Hell yeah". Which both came from Sakura, not one sound of Naruto, who just listened until his name was called, just to go on reading afterwards.

Besides: in the last week Naruto had lots of time to think about his life, especially considering the ten clones he made each day. And even though he was training or reading, in other words: learning, all of them always had time to think of other stuff.

In the time he was thinking, Naruto came to the conclusion that he wasn't as in love with Sakura, as he made people believe, and even less envious of the attention Sasuke got. Of course, he would like to have a little more attention and would like to be well-treated by the village, but there is alwas a fine line between treating someone well and licking his shoes.

Aside from that Naruto once read of old legends, where some demons were considered guardian-spirits and since he was a hanyou he started to like the thought of himself being the guardian-spirit of Konoha, especially since he's not only a hanyou but also a jinchuuriki, who are, as he read, considered guardians in Kumo.

Taking all those facts in consideration it won't surprise to see Naruto concentrate more on training in any way he possibly could than chasing a silly crush when it is clear his feelings are neither returned, nor appreciated.

So he spent the lunch break as well as those hours he had to wait for his sensei learning the basics of sealing, even going as far as sending a clone to his apartment to get a brush, ink and sealing paper. When Kakashi finally arrived he was already able to make his own storing seals in different sizes and with some minor modifications, like unsealing ratio or velocity with which items are unsealed (yes they DO shoot stuff).

The door opened, stepping in was a lazy looking jounin with a facemask and an orange book in hand. He actually looked rather surprised. Especially when his eyes met Naruto "Hm. That's unusual. I thought I would be pranked when entering." He then shrugged his shoulders "well then. Meet me at the roof." With that he poofed away.

**On the roof**

"oh so you're here already?" Kakashi "Ok let's begin with some introductions."

"What do you want to know?" Sakura asked.

"How about… your likes, dislikes… dreams for the future, hobbies, stuff like that."

"Ok sensei. But why don't you start?" Naruto asked.

"Ohh... Me? My name is Hatake Kakashi. I have no desire to tell you guys about my likes and dislikes. Dreams for the future…? Hmmm… well I have lots of hobbies" was Kakashis' answer. "Now blondie, get to it."

"Alright. My name is Uzumaki K. Naruto. And no, I don't know what the 'K' stands for. My likes are people who like me, Ramen, training and apparently sealing. What I dislike are traitors, those who hate me, the time it takes to make Ramen and those who can't seem to help but taking a guardian for a monster. My dream is to do my duty to this village, guard it and perhaps become Hokage on the way. Hobbies are training, sometimes pranking, reading and, since today, learning about sealing."

"I see…" Kakashi muttered "Ok. Next!"

"My name is Uchiha Sasuke. There are tons of things I dislike but I don't really like anything. And… I don't want to use the word 'Dream' but… I have an ambition. The resurrection of my clan and… to kill a certain man."

(AN: I'm too lazy to do Sakuas' "I love Sasuke too much to care about training to survive a C-rank mission" speech…)

"Ok! That's enough of that. We will start our duties tomorrow with a little survival training."

"why survival training, sensei? We had lots of it in the academy" asked Sakura.

"because it's to test if you're good enough to be genin. Tomorrow we will test if you will really become genin, the test has a failure rate of 66%. so don't eat if you don't want to throw up and meet me at training ground seven at 8 am." With that Kakashi poofed away.

Afterwards Naruto left, with Sasuke doing the same and Sakura following Sasuke.

* * *

When Naruto arrived at training ground 21, which was frequently used by him, with a new scroll about basic sealing in hand, he found a sight that intrigued him. There, hiding behind a tree, watching his clones train, was no one other than Hyuuga Hinata, heiress of the Hyuuga clan. So instead of just going to his clones and checking up on them he decided to humor her and sneak up to her.

'_if she thought she could really watch me uncaught, she has another thing coming. Besides: what does she do here? Trying to spy on the demon or later on hurt me? don't really think she would but why Is she here? Didn't the caretaker from her clan once tell her to stay away from me as much as possible?' _so he went up to her as silently as he could with the effect that she didn't notice him, until he tapped her on the shoulder.

"Wha..?!" came from Hinata as she jumped from the touch. And turned around to be face to face to a curious looking Naruto.

"Hello Hinata" Naruto smiled with a small smile "What are you doing here, or yet a better question: why are you watching me?"

"I …Uhm…Naruto-kun…Uhm" Hinata stuttered out '_yeah that helps me a lot'_

"Ok Hinata. Either you tell me what you're doing here or I will assume you tried to find a way to hurt me. So what is it?"

At this point Hinata started to hyperventilate and panic, trying her best to not feint and just say why she watched Naruto. "I… Uhm… I just wanted to… see you before I'm… too busy to do so."

"Oh ok. But… why did you want to see me, Hinata? I mean you hardly ever really talked to me before."

"Because I… Uhm… I wanted to change that." Hinata started to invent a new shade of red and startet poking her index fingers "I… I… I admire you, Naruto-kun."

"Wha…?" Naruto was totally perplexed '_why would anyone ever admire me? I didn't even do anything yet' _"Uhm… ok… and why is that? I mean: don't get me wrong I do like to be admired but my question is: what did I do to be admired by you? You're a heiress to a clan, you're talented, strong and beautiful and I'm just some guy who nobody even knows what he really is. So why do you admire me?"

"Because… you never give up… even… even if everyone says you should, you don't. you are very strong in this way. And… I would like to be as strong as you, Naruto-kun."

"Ah. Ok… I don't think I'm strong, but perhaps we could see who's stronger between the two of us?"

"Uhm.. what do you want to do, Naruto-kun?" asked a confused Hinata.

"how about we do a little taijutsu spar. But no holding back, as long as we don't get dangerously hurt. Just your… uhm... I think Juuken was what your fighting style was called?" a nod "ok then. You Juuken against my uzuken, alright?"

"Uzuken?" asked a confused Hinata

"Yeah. My whirlpool fist. It has to do with certain… circumstances about me."

"But I don't want to hurt you, Naruto-kun."

"well… did you know that training is damaging muscle mass and the repairing of that is what makes them stronger? So if you hurt me, I will get stronger through it."

So they set into stances, Naruto in his basic uzuken stance, which was a stance with his left foot and arm in front knee bent in an 120° angle albow in an 100° angle, parallel to the ground, his, nearly open, palm pointing to himself his right arm and leg were in the back, knee bent at an 160° angle with his arm pointing down a little with his elbow at a 170° angle. And Hinata in her Juuken stance.

A clone, that was created before the fight to serve as a refree , waved as a sign for the fight to start.

Naruto, instantly attacked, just like describd in the scrolls, with half a turn, getting in close to Hinata and tried to his her at the head with his right arm, which she blocked, trying to conter but Naruto just did a one and a half turn to the left and used his momentum to land a right backhand on her face, which made her stumble back. Naruto instantly used this wide opening to make another half turn to the left and punch her in her right side.

The Naruto clone saw this and instantly ended the fight.

"Uhm… Ok… Hinata?" she looked up "whats wrong with your taijutsu? It looks as if it doesn't suit you. Like you fight against your own body, trying to do the juuken moves. I didn't see much, but that much was kinda obvious."

Hinata shook her head "I don't know, Naruto-kun. I'm the failure of my clan after all, so you shouldn't expect me to be any better." Hinata started to sob" I'm just a worthless disappointment of a heiress and even my younger sister, Hanabi-chan can beat me."

Naruto lead Hinata over to the near trees to lean against them and hold her close to himself for comfort (he read about it ;) ). After some time, Hinata was able to calm down. "Better?" asked the blond, gaining a nod from the heiress, after which she stood up.

"Arigatou, Naruto-kun." She said with a bow "tanks for that, Naruto-kun. I needed that." Naruto just nodded at that "Now I'll need to go home, my father must already await me. Perhaps we can meet up again sometime in the future?"

"Of course, Hinata. I'll have to see how much time I can afford to spend, away from my team but I'll meet up with you as much as both of us like and can." Naruto said with a smile.

Hinata returned the smile with a shy one of hers' and said goodbye "Sayonara, Naruto-kun." With that she left.

* * *

The next day team seven could be found waiting at training ground seven… no news there I know… but what's new is: Naruto had clones working on stuff in the meantime, being watched curiously by Sasuke and Sakura, who thought Naruto was going crazy, thinking clones could train.

When Kakashi finally showed up at nine, he was greeted by two shouts of: "You're late!" from Sasuke and Sakura, and one "Oh you're early" from Naruto, after which his teammates just looked at him like he grew a second head.

"well… I read he would always be three hours late, so he's early for his standards." Naruto explained, after which Kakashi gave him an eyesmile.

"I see, at least one of you does his homework." Said the copy-cat which gained a foxy grin from Naruto and disbelieving looks from the other two. "And I see you used the time you had to train and rest, unlike the others. That's quite good, too." Kakashi said with an eye smile "Now. Let's move on. This clock is set for noon. As I told you yesterday you will have totake another test. And that test consists of this:" he pulled two bells out of his pocked "you will have to take those two bells from me. As you can see there are only two of them, so at least one of you will fail. You can use anything you have, even shuriken, and you will have to come at me with the intent to kill." Kakashi explained, still with an eye smile.

"Besides: those who don't pass will be tied to those logs over there to watch while I eat lunch and then sent back to the academy for another year."

"Begin!"

In an instant all three of them were gone. Sasuke and Sakura hiding, Naruto, instead, was with his clones, getting some more training in.

"Uhm… Naruto? What are you doing? Shouldn't you hide like the others?"

"Nah. I don't see the point in hiding, when facing an elite jounin, who could detect me anyway. I also don't see the point in fighting you when I know I can't win."

"Oh. Ok. Be my guest at failing. If you don't attack me, I WILL fail you."

"Ah. What a drag. Even if I already know the purpose of the test?"

Kakashis eyes (pardon eye) widened "you know the purpose of this test?"

"Of course, sensei. I read about you, remember? So. Do I still have to fight you?"

"Yes, Naruto. You still have to fight me."

"Alright…" so with a groan Naruto walked over to Kakashi, assuming his basic stance. 'Hidden' in the bushes Sasuke and Sakura thought along the lines of: _'does he really think that's a correct stance? That dobe is just so dumb to use a made up stance.'_ The next moment he made the cross sign with his fingers and shoutet "kage Bunshin no Jutsu" beside him six clones popped up, tree on each side. They got into movement instantly.

Two were moving in directly, while two went to the sides and the last two, as well as the original, stayed behind, positioning themselves the way they can see every angle. While Sasuke and Sakura thought it was a dumb move, considering they were only clones, Kakashi was quite impressed by the formational and tactical usage of clones by Naruto. He was even more impressed, as they just threw up their hands, palms facing him.

Suddenly Kunai shot out of their palms at a fast speed. Kakashis eyes widened in surprise and he had to dodge the kunai, crouching down, giving an opening to the approaching Kage Bunshin.

When the clones reached Kakashi, they used the uzuken in tandem, being perfectly able to time strikes, blocks, dodges, and rearranging position after every move they made.

All of them, including Naruto, were surprised, he held his ground so well. Even if Kakashi didn't go all out, he was fighting at mid-chuunin level (high C low to mid B-rank) which was a high level for newly instated genin. And Naruto was sure, he didn't get that good by the training he did that last week.

Suddenly Sasuke decided to move in and instantly used Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu, dispelling the clones and forcing Kakashi to use a Kawamiri.

When both, Naruto and Sasuke, were pulled underground by Kakashi, Naruto dispelled, indicating he already switched with a clone beforehand, leaving Sasuke being the only one in the clearing.

Some short minutes later he could hear a shriek from Sakura. She was trapped in a genjutsu.

After that the bell rang.

After team seven regrouped at the three training posts Kakashi decided to brief them.

"Allright this was an interesting test. Now… where to begin…? First of all: Sakura. You suck. I thought genjutsu would be your strength, seeing as theory and chakra control are your best points, but you fell for a D-rank genjutsu. Sasuke. The only things you did were endangering a teammate and using a C-rank ninjutsu. While I think you are at mid genin-level, which is quite good for one straight from the academy, you're reckless and self-centered. Naruto. You used a good portion of ninjutsu, taijutsu and basic weapons skills. Besides: how did you throw those kunai at the start of our little spar?"

"I just used some fuinjutsu I learned yesterday and applied this morning. It really is just a basic seal, you would also apply to a sealing scroll, but I modified it so that object coming out will be shot." After that he showed him the seal on each of his palms.

"ah that's one interesting seal, I have to say. Now where was I? ah right. You also used good tactics and could have beaten a mid-chuunin level threat this way. But without your clones I doubt you would have lasted that long. So I'd say you're mid to high-genin level on your own. Now Naruto. You said you knew what this test was for?" Naruto nodded "Would you enlighten us?"

"Of course. I looked up information about you and came across a 'Bell Test' you always use on new genin teams the purpose of this test was said to be dividing the team to see, if we would work together, even if we could be the one losing our opportunity to get something we wanted or needed in the end. Just like when we are on a mission and we have to decide if we want to live or want the others to stay alive." (remember: he read a lot the days before!)

"wow! That's right. So do tell Naruto."

"Huh?"

"why didn't you try to team up with the others?"

"well… there was no point trying. You've seen what Sasuke did and Sakura would just have hit me on the head. I may not seem like it but pain is something I rather avoid." Naruto explained.

"Alright. Then that means you Sasuke" pointing at him "and you Sakura" pointing at her " won't be sent back to the academy" Kakashi said, earning a smug smile from Sasuke as well as a "Whoop" from Sakura. "You'll both be kicked out of the shinobi program. For Naruto: I'm sorry, but you'll have to repeat a year since your teammates were too incompetent to team up."

"it's ok, Kakashi. I understand, even though I'm unsure as to what it's going to do for me. I mean: I'll learn nothing in the academy I can't learn without it as well." Reasoned Naruto.

After that Kakashi paused for a while to think. "Well… you know what I'll give all three of you a second chance." Kakashi exclaimed. "After lunch I will test you again" after that he tied Sakura to the middle post and gave the two boys the two boxes of lunch he had with him. He left with the words "Don't give Sakura anything or you'll be failed."

After he left, the boys argued about feeding her, with both agreeing to just feed her and be done with it.

With a large cloud of smoke and a loud booming sound Kakashi reentered the training ground "You guys…" everything seemed to stop, Naruto could swear even the world stopped turning "… pass" the three newly minted genin looked at him, being totally perplexed.

"But why?" asked Sakura, not understanding a thing of what was going on.

"Because 'Those who break the rules are trash, but those who don't take care of their friends are lower than trash'." He turned towards the memorial stone. "That's what my best friend once taught me. His name is now engraved on this stone. It's a stone where all the names of the heroes of Konoha are engraved into. He, along with my sensei are on this stone. He died a few days after I was promoted jounin. Sensei died on the day of Narutos birth, which was the day of kyuubis attack. 10 of October."

Sasuke and Sakura traded shocked looks and Naruto looked apologetically at Kakashi.

"You don't have to apologize for what you had no control over, Naruto. After all he was the one to make you what you are now. It's more like I should apologize to you. But… I guess we should talk more later on." This made Narutos eyes widen and the two others even more confused than before the explanation why they passed.

"Ok that ends it. Starting tomorrow team seven will begin its duties."

With that Naruto jumped around, cheering freely about finally making genin.

"Hey, Naruto!"

"Huh?"

"Stop that and come with me. Team! Dismissed. And we better untie Sakura." Sasuke instantly left to train, while Naruto and Kakashi untied Sakura, who ran off after Sasuke.

"Ok, Naruto. Come over here, please" Kakashi pointed at the memorial and sat down at its socket.

Naruto then followed his example, sat down and asked: "What did you want, Kakashi-sensei?"

"I wanted to talk about you and about what you are, or more precisely what you are NOT." Kakashi explained with a stern expression on his otherwise lazy features.

"Wh- What do you mean, Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto asked, frightened he might have gotten a biased teacher. Again. (AN: remember: aside from Iruka, all the academy teachers Naruto ever had were biased. Besides he still isn't good at reading people, that's a skill that's hard to learn when major parts of the people you see hate you)

"Relax, Naruto. There is no reason to be frightened. I understand what you are. You're a Jinchuuriki, not a demon incarnate. Besides: I cannot tell you their names, since that's an S-rank secret, but I knew your parents. And quite well I might say. So there is no bias to fear from me.

"However: you have to stay clear about one thing: you were made a guardian to this village by the Yondaime, who, by the way, is my dead sensei. This means: you will have to be strong. You will hardly be treated good by the villagers and you will have to use the power of the fox someday.

"I also want you to know: I'm a very well-known elite jounin, meaning: I have some influence over a large portion of the villages' shinobi forces, and I'll always be there for you whenever you are in trouble. My sensei trusted you with the responsibility to keep the village safe from the fox and maybe other threats and even though many think you should be used as a weapon, not as a guardian, a guardian and savior is what you are. NOT a weapon. I just wanted you to know that."

While Kakashi did that speech Narutos smile widened more and more and at the end of it, Naruto even had tears in his eyed "Thanks, Kakashi-sensei. Thank you so much for that."

Kakashi awkwardly patted Narutos head "There, There, Naruto. I think you should go back to training, shouldn't you? I for one have to go and report to sandaime-sama, before even I am pissing him off with my tardiness. So I guess I'll see you tomorrow, Naruto." With that he poofed away.

* * *

**One month and three weeks later**

* * *

On a sunny day, we found team seven walk down a dry road at a leisure pace. They all had relaxed postures, like there was no care in the world.

So team seven was having fun enjoying their free time, wandering…

Uhm… ok they didn't. I mean enjoying free time. They enjoyed wandering. Very much so, but they actually had a client between them, while they were walking in a diamond formation. This client was the bridge builder Tazuna from wave country.

The time between the real genin test and this mission was spent doing team exercises and D-rank missions. All this time Naruto did not only attend to both but also trained with his Kage Bunshin.

While he was mid to high-genin level without his clones on the test he was now bordering low-chuunin level.

Besides there was one thing that made everyone except Kakashi wonder: he doesn't have any backpack with him, this is a longer trip, he should have all the needed stuff with him… but he doesn't wear a backpack.

Kakashi of course knew, he just sealed his stuff.

Now as they were walking down said road to head to wave country, where bridge was to be built, they came across a puddle on the ground. No one seemed to pay it any attention and when they passed it, two shinobi sprang forth from it, wrapping Kakashi in chains and shredding him to pieces.

Instantly Sasuke and Naruto sprang to action.

At the sight of his sensei being shredded, Naruto felt a power spread though him. To him it felt like nothing more than concentrated power of will, but he didn't notice his facial structures gaining more feral traits, his hair gaining a red tint and his fingernails extending to short claws.

When he closed in on the two shinobi, he acted on pure instinct. He swiped with his hands and sent five waves of chakra towards his enemies, saying: "**Onipo: ****Hikō Tsume**" (Demon Art: Flying Claws), which pierced though the chain between the two ninja and gave both of them shallow cuts on their arms. Just enough to distract them from him using the kage bunshin to knock both of them out at the same time. His team, Kakashi and even he himself were dumbstruck.

"Naruto-baka? What the hell was that?" Sakura asked, looking at Naruto.

"Uhm… if I knew, I would tell you guys." came Narutos answer.

"But you used it, how can you not know how you did a move like that, aside from being able to move so much faster than Sasuke-kun?" insisted Sakura.

"Look. I don't know how I did it! There's something I suspect is connected to it, but as long as I don't know for sure I won't tell you about that. You don't need to know!" Naruto anwered. He knew it was harsh, but what should he do? He didn't know after all.

So after kakashi questioned the demon brothers, he came back to question Tazuna: "Now, Tazuna. I guess you have some things to tell us, don't you think?"

Tazuna was shocked at that. "No I don't know what you mean."

"Look: these were chuunin-level missing nin from Kirigakure called 'demon brothers'. They also targeted you and whoever targets you will send someone stronger next time. So either you tell us whats going on and we'll see about going back or we will go back and leave you here for lying to us. This isn't a C-rank mission anymore, it's at least B-, perhaps even A rank."

After this Tazuna started to talk. He told the team about Gatou, how the funds wouldn't be enough to pay for a higher-ranked mission and how they and his bridge were the last hope for Nami no Kuni.

Finally Kakashi asked: "Alright guys you heard his story, do you want to go on? Know, that whoever we're going to face will be a lot stronger than the demon brothers."

"I'm called many things in Konoha, but coward in not one of those. I won't back out of this!" was Narutos answer.

"The dobe said it." Came from Sasuke, who smirked at the thought of strong opponents and showing Naruto who's better next time.

"I'm with Sasuke-kun." Exclaimed Sakura, who thought nothing but: _'how cool Sasuke-kun is'_.

After this they met up with a sailor to bring them to name no kuni.

On the ride to the shore, they could take a first look at the huge bridge, already spanning over a good part of the sea which separated Nami no Kuni from Hi no Kuni.

After leaving the shore of Nami no kuni and going farther inwards to the main island, mist got thicker and thicker. Naruto heard rustling in a bush and threw a kunai into it. Turned out there was a rabbid in the bushes. The unusual thing about said rabbid was its fur. It had white fur.

A swishing sound was heard and Kakashi yelled at everyone to "DUCK". A second afterwards a huge cleaver was going just over their heads.

When they turned they saw a man standing on the hilt of said cleaver .

"Momochi Zabuza, The demon of the mist." Came from kakashi

"Hatake Kakashi, also known as Sharingan no Kakashi." Retorted Zabuza.

'_Sharingan? But the sharingan is the kekkei genkai of the Uchiha-clan!'_ Sasuke thought, immediately thinking It was just stolen.

Naruto thought along the lines of: '_Demon? Is he related to one? Is it just a title?' _of course he wanted to know if Zabuza was actually a hanyou like him, or if that was just some title, stemming from unusual amounts of blood thirst.

Kakashi immediately uncovered his sharingan, as Zabuza already began to talk about how he would like killing off the genin, as well as his life story about how he killed hundred academy students of Kiri at their age.

Naruto then began to chuckle. After the questioning look from everyone he just said: "you know. Here I thought you would perhaps actually be related to a demon. But you're just some unusually blood thirsty guys with the power to support it. What would actual demons or hanyou say about you?"

This gained him a laugh from said 'demon' "So you think you're smart, huh, gaki? There only ever was one clan of hanyou and they are extinct, so at lest they wouldn't say anything. And the demons are all sealed away."

At that Naruto smirked. "so you say I don't exist?"

As those words left his lips everyone began to stare at him. '_What does that dobe mean? Why wouldn't he exist, just because a clan of hanyou is extinct and all demons are sealed?' _guess who

'_what? He can't mean he already knows, can he?' _thought Kakashi.

"My name is Naruto Uzumaki." He told Zabuza to make things clear. Naruto read up on some things and found out that the Uzumaki name actually is a clan name. The books and scrolls said nothing about anything demonic, but since he was told by Hiruzen, that a parent of his was a hanyou and Zabuza talked about a clan of hanyou, he kust put the facts together.

After said revelation Zabuza gaped, but soon straightened up again. "So you're a hanyou, huh? Where is your sword? Shouldn't Uzumaki be kenjutsu masters?"

Naruto shook his head "No. Well yes they were. But I didn't yet start to train in the Uzusōkon yet, so no sword for me yet."

"A shame. Well then. Let's see how long your team will hold against me, demon Baby. **Ninpo: Kirigakure no Jutsu**"

With that the mist increased, along with the KI felt in the area. Sasuke and Sakura were shaking of fear, while Naruto once again became more feral, his senses and instincts way faster and more accurate than before. So when both Zabuza as well as Kakashi finished their speeches and Zabuza appeared in the middle of their manji-formation, Naruto instantly moved.

"**Onipo: Tsume no Uzu!**" exclaimed a demonized Naruto, who started to rotate at high speeds (think a Kaiten of reddish chakra, which is not a wall of chakra but a high amount of small chakra blades).

The mizu-bunshin was instantly evaporated, furthermore Naruto rushed towards the next one, slashing his claws at him. Kakashi and him were killing mizu bunshin left and right, Naruto with his demon-mode, Kakashi with his own mizu bunshin, until Kakashi himself came out and stepped on the nearby lake, after which he was caught in a water prison.

The eyes of the genin widened at that, even Narutos. In his shock he accidently deactivated his demon mode, which left him weaker than he was before, since he was tired out by using it.

"Go! Take Tazuna and Run! You can't do anything here! His bunshin can only reach a certain distance, so Run!" Kakashi yelled, panicking.

Naruto just shook his head. "I can't do that, sensei. I will not leave you behind. You said it yourself: 'those who break the rules are trash, but those who abandon their friends, are worde than trash.' There is no way I'll be worse than trash!"

Zabuza formed three new mizu bunshin, who then proceeded to stand before him in a line.

"Keh. So you thought, that was enough to be really considered a demon? That's not even enough for me to consider any of you three to be a shinobi. Just give it up! Run away and leave that old man behind, or you'll die, just like your teacher will."

"Tazuna. I'll leave you to Sasuke and Sakura. I hope you don't mind?" asked Naruto.

"Of course not, boy. I brought you into this mess. You better get out of it, you hear me?" Tazuna answered sternly.

"good." Naruto answered.

Now for a plan. He knew he had no chance in overpowering the mizu bunshin, even if he would be able to keep up his demon mode, which he didn't even know how to activate. He had to use the uzuken in combination with shadow clones and his demon mode, to be victorious here.

But time ran out. He didn't know how to activate the demon mode and he didn't know if he could use the uzuken fully in that mode, since the two times he fought in that mode till now, he used instincts to guide him, not any type of fighting style.

'_Gotta try anyways._' With that he started to move. For every one of the mizu bunshin he made three clones, to scout out their specific weakness. All three teams moved from another direction, each in a different formation. One was a v-formation, one a turned v one was a line.

The first team was decimated by a frontal attack of their clone, the Zabuza clone stormed at them for the last two meters and slashed at the first Kage bunshin, dispelling him. The second and third were trying to flank him with Kunai, but the second got cut by Zabuza, while he evaded the third, which was being popped by a kick in the back.

For the second team the clone used a totally different approach. Instead of storming forwards, he picked the one to his right and moved in front of him on the last meter to kill him first, when the others turned, ne middle to engage him, while the left one tried to flank him, Zabuza proceeded the same way as with group one.

The third group was the easiest to him. As they were approaching him, he just moved in a way that brought him in range to the one to the right and middle, which he killed in one strike, and then kicking the third.

Naruto was in a hell of a mess and started to panic slightly.

That was when a voice appeared in his head.

'_No worries my Boy! I see you got some problems. I'll help you out, but you'll have to visit me as soon as you can after this. I'll activate your demon mode, and you just concentrate on this idiot before you. As to how you can visit me: just go to sleep I'll get you there then.'_ Spoke that voice. It sounded like an old man. Not Hiruzen Sarutobi old, but around 50-55 years of age.

Instantly afterwards Naruto transformed. His senses were stronger again, his movements held more strength, just like before. But: he was able to think more clearly than the times before.

Naruto started to smirk as he noticed this and suddenly moved his hands to make a cross-symbol, after which he and his eleven clones threw up their hands and activated the seals on their palms.

In the safety of the following hail of Kunai, the clones and Naruto split into groups of four to each engage one of the Zabuzas.

Each of those groups used a variation of the formation displayed before. To be exact, the first used a y-formation, the second a diamond shaped formation and the third a T-formation.

Meaning the extra Naruto was in the back.

With their enhanced speed the group of Narutos dashed forward, engaging the Mizu bunshin. With their enhanced speed, strength and senses, the clones were able to bind all of their opponents in a fight, using the uzuken, which seemed to be designed for Naruto in demon mode, swirling, swishing, using his claws as further distractions and using the extra speed and strength to strike. Even though not one of the mizu bunshin was destroyed, that wasn't what Naruto planned anyways.

Instead the last of each group, Naruto being in group one, just moved around the bound Zabuzas to engage the real one though long range attacks.

The clones fired their kunai, to make sure Zabuza had to move, when real Naruto used his attack. "**Onipo: Hikō Surasshu**" (flying slash) was what Naruto called his attack, which was a one clawed version ofOnipo: Hikō Tsume (think Kaze no Yaiba but visible and reddish).

As consequence Zabuzas only option was to let go of the water prison, freeing Kakashi.

While Kakashi went for the real Zabuza, Narutos' long range group headed for the mizu bunshin, ending them after some more moments, inflicting minor injuries, what, would it have been the real one, wouldn't make a difference.

Kakashi then finished his fight with Zabuza and was interrupted by a Kiri hunter nin, using senbon to kill Zabuza. But as the fight was over, Kakashi fell over, unconscious and Naruto was really tired. So tired in fact, he had problems to move on his own. Luckily his clones were still intact, so they could carry Kakashi to Tazunas house. But as soon as they dispelled, Naruto was asleep, having stayed awake only through forced willpower as to not have the clones dispel.

He didn't even get to greet Tsunami, Tazunas daughter, any more.

* * *

Naruto woke up in a sewer, instantly sitting up and getting to a standing position. After looking around, he heard a voice call: "**Find me**." It sounded like the same voice that called for him in the fight. But at the same time it didn't.

"Where are you?" Naruto called.

And the voice gave a direction: "**Follow the tubes that are tinted red, they'll lead you to me.**" So Naruto did as he was told. He finally came to a large cage with a huge sealing tag keeping It closed. Behind the bars something started to move its giant body.

When this giant something came into the light, you could see the giant form of the Kyuubi no Kitsune, that spoke: **"Hello, Naruto-kun. How is my descendant feeling today?".**

Naruto fell on his ass as he saw what was standing before him and it took him a moment to understand what was said.

"Who is your descendant, Kyuubi?" was the only thing Naruto could ask.

Kyuubi let go of a big laugh after that. "**BWAHAHA! You're a funny one, Naruto. I really thought, one of my descendants was about to mutate to a Uchiha, the way you were the last months. But see here. Still a little kid. Now, to answer your question, Naruto. YOU are my descendant**."

"What? But you're a violent, giant and unbelievably strong demon! I'm nothing like you!" screamed Naruto in hysteria.

"**Well then. Tell me your last name, Naruto. Is it perhaps… Uzumaki?**" Naruto nodded at that. "**yeah… well… the Uzumaki clan is the clan I once founded, Naruto. I AM one of your ancestors.**"

Naruto had nothing to say to that for a while.

"So that means… I… I am really close to you… so the villagers weren't that wrong at all? It wasn't all stupidity, to hurt you through me?"

"**No, it wasn't. But there still was no real reason to do so. A man of one of their most prestigious clans, one of the clans of my… you could call them half-brothers of mine… made me attack the village. I was under his control through a genjutsu.**" Naruto gasped at that.

"WHAT?! HOW CAN YOU, THE MOST POWERFUL BEING IN THE WORLD, BE CONTROLLED BY A MERE GENJUTSU! YOU'RE THE FRICKING KYUUBI FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!" Naruto yelled at him, in total disbelief. Not that he thought of Kyuubi as a liar, but to Naruto it was totally unbelievable for one person to control the mightiest being in the world. Especially through a genjutsu.

Naruto calmed down after that. "Who was it?"

"**I see you're in control of the infamous Uzumaki temper, huh? Fine. I'll tell you. But you better listen. I'll begin at the actual beginning." **At that Kyuubi lay down, his head on his paws. "**you might want to get comfortable as well. It's a bit of a longer story.**"

"where would I be comfortable here? Everywhere is water, after all." Naruto asked.

The fox chuckled at that "**Come in here, my paws should be sufficient enough for you to get comfortable."**

Naruto stared at him for a while. "Ok but don't get any funny ideas, you hear me?"

This drew another chuckle from the giant fox. "**come over here, already.**" Naruto settled down on one of his paws, situated in a way so he could look up at the fox. "**Now. At the beginning there was war. Endless bloodshed over things many forgot eons ago. They laid waste to the lands of men and nature alike. This kept up for years on end. In the end rivers went dry, forests were withering, and the seas became unruly. Earth itself began to rise up against humankind. To end this bloodshed, a priestess, Ootsotsuki Kaguya, decided to eat the fruit of the Shinju, an enormous tree, considered the host of god. **('Adam and Eve' Meets 'The Legend of Zelda')

"**By doing so, she attained the power of chakra and was able to end all human caused bloodshed. But the Shinju once forbid men to eat that fruit, or even touch it. In rage, caused by the sacrilege of the priestess, it went berserk, transforming into the ten tailed beast, the first bijuu, also known as Juubi. Luckily for mankind, Ootsotsuki Kaguya gave birth to a child before she later on faced the Juubi, dying after their fight. This child was called Ootsotsuki Bagoromo, also known as Rikudo sennen and to toe Bijuu also known as 'Father'.**

"**he defeated the Juubi, sealing its body into the moon and its soul and chakra into himself. In his long life he had three children, two sons and a daughter. All of them were seeking for a way to end bloodshed once and for all and inherited some of their fathers powers.**

**The oldest son, believing power could bring an end to the wars and misery, received the spiritual power of the sage, inheriting what is now called the Sharingan. He later on founded the Uchiha clan.**

**The youngest son, believing love would be key to peace, gained the sages body. He later on founded the Senju clan.**

"**But the only daughter of the sage, and his second-born knew: both were wrong. She knew neither love nor power would be able to bring peace to mankind's hearts. Instead she discovered the truth of both power and love.**

**Power in itself has no purpose. Its only purpose is further ones' power, thereby corrupting the one wielding it.**

**Love without power is not only meaningless, but to love also means to be able to gain the emotion of hate. It's as if you have a string. The fastest way to get to the other end is laying one end to the other, meaning: extremes are closest to each other. To be exact: love and hate are exactly the same, both are just one side of the same coin.**

"**Instead she came to understand that there is only one way for man to achieve peace: peace of mind. And that is accomplished through acceptance, which then promotes understanding. She gained the mindset of the sage and his most important power: the ability to change people. She later founded the Uzumaki clan and well… became my wife."** This was the first part where Kyuubi stopped and just smiled.

"**At that time I was still able to use an ability every single one of my descendants have: shapeshifting. This way I was able to behave as if I was human. Of course she knew the truth, but as her father created me, as well as the other eight Bijuu, named me and she preached acceptance, she had a mind, free enough to fall in love with me.**

"**Later on in the time of the clans at war, the Uzumaki, who were known as fuinjutst-masters as well as kenjutsu-masters, were close to the Senju and helped at the founding of Konohagakure, which is why Konoha has the swirl symbol, which is the insignia of the Uzumaki clan, worn by Konoha to show their gratitude and loyalty to our clan. Later on, when the head of the Uchiha clan, Uchiha Madara, used his Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan to gain control over me, to fight Senju Hashirama over the position of Hokage, Uzumaki Mito, your grandaunt, sealed me into herself, to keep me safe from the Uchiha, that, in the future, might come after me. I told her after the sealing that I would have killed her using my youki, which is demonic chakra, if she would have sealed me into a non-Uzumaki.**

"**this was one of the reasons why Uzumaki Kushina, your mother, was then chosen to carry me, when Mito was about to die. She was, by the way, a princess and the heiress of Uzu no Kuni and the Uzumaki clan which includes Uzushiogakure, your clans' hidden village.**

"**shortly after her arrival at Konohagakure the second shinobi world war broke out with a bang: the destruction of Uzushiogakure.**

"**As you have witnessed today, in battle the Uzumaki become real demons. In demonic form an Uzumakis strength is doubled, for some tripled. Aside from that Uzumaki have always been the best at fuinjutsu and kenjutsu, which they can perfectly use in demonic form, and were always proficient with ninjutsu. So it is clear the attackers, Iwa-, Kumo- and Kirigakure, along with some minor villages, received major losses, leading to the victory of Konohagakure at the end of the war.**

"**But my clan was nearly extinct. Later on your mother fell in love with your father. Don't worry I'll tell you, if you let me go on without interrupting after I tell you."** This gained him a nod from Naruto**" his name was Namikaze Minato, the yondaime Hokage. You didn't receive his name because of two reasons. First: he was an orphan without clan, so that you would have received her name anyways. Second: you had to be protected from Iwa. The shinobi there have always been ones to bear grudges so you wouldn't have been safe. Of course everyone should see how good that would work, but it wasn't my decision after all."**

"**Well… at the day of your birth your mother had to be at a secured position, since there was a chance for the seal to break in childbirth and no one, not even I, wanted that. The Problem was: someone interrupted. Just as you were born, your father was forced away from Kushina-chan. An Uchiha held you hostage, nearly killing you. Minato-kun was able to safe you, but at the cost of the seal. I was forced out of Kushina and put under another genjutsu, which I didn't escape from, until you I was sealed into you.**

"**I instantly recognized you as an Uzumaki due to your demonic powers, which are the strongest I have seen in one of my descendants in over five decades, by the way, meaning I wouldn't kill you.**

"**Now that this story is over with, I have to tell you something else: every single one of the male Uzumaki heirs since the fourth generation of Uzumaki has a second name: 'Kuramamaru' that is what the 'K.' in your name stands for. To explain that is simple: My name is Kurama. You are named after me."** At the end of this story, Naruto was unable to do anything but gape.

"Uhm… Kurama…-sama?" Naruto shakily asked if that was right.

"**Leave the '-sama' kid, we're family. So call me whatever you like."** Kurama snorted back.

"Oh ok. So Kurama-Jiji…" Kurama had to smile at that „would it be ok if I thought a bit about what you told me? It's all a bit much, you know?"

"**Of course, kid. Take all the time you need. Just don't forget to train."** He then said in a soft voice: **"goodnight, Naruto-chan."**

"Night, Kurama-jiji."With that the hanyou left the cage representing the seal. Naruto then fell into the blackness that is a dreamless sleep.


	2. A contract

**Hey guys this is Dune**

**Just wanted to say some stuff…**

**First of all: I'll try to update regularly, this update was really planned for the 25****th****, but I have to do some more plot-planning before I go on.**

**Next is: I struggled with the end of the wave mission, which you may notice and I apologize for that.**

**Then there is the fast advance in this story. I know, I seem to take some things awfully fast, like the stuff in this chapter after wave, but I always have to see how I can fit stuff in in between graduation, chuunin exams and Sasuke-retrieval.**

**I also know that Naruto is growing stronger much more rapidly than in canon but there are reasons for that:**

**First is, he's a hanyou, who starts to learn how to control his demonic side, which makes him 1.5 – 3 times as strong as he would normally be, but uses lots of energy, if he doesn't watch out, yet.**

**He learned about the Kage Bunshins' secret ability nearly directly after getting the headband.**

**Now… there also is a reason why I tend to skip some things: I don't like to write stuff, you all know already, if it can be explained in 2-3 sencences.**

**btw: special thanks go to "Strange Obsession", who made me write this fic, as well as the bands "Three Days Grace" and "Thousand Foot Krutch" for getting me in the right mood to write (the first dream was written when first listening to "Never too Late - Three Days Grace".**

**Alright… that was all…**

**I don't own Naruto etc. …**

**Dream it!**

* * *

Naruto was standing before a house. A big, three storied, apartment-complex in red and blue, arranged in a swirling matter, which made his eyes unfocused. Through a front gate you could see it was apparently built around an inner courtyard. There seemed to be no other way to enter than the gate, which was bridged by the building.

As he went inside, he saw people. Mostly middle aged ones, sitting in the park-like yard, simply talking and watching, mostly red-haired, children play. One of the people there had birds sitting on her arms and squirrels climbing and circling her legs.

He saw there were several entrances to the house itself with staircases directly beside them. The biggest entrance, a double-doored one, was at the broadest part of the complex, seemingly leading to a hall. He entered one of the smaller entrances, close to the double doors and went up to the first floor.

There he saw, that the apartments were connected to each other so that there is no real separation, besides doors, that mostly weren't even closed.

Along the floors, between all the doors were small texts, which seemed to be some kind of prayer.

The floors were further decorated with pictures of the nine Bijuu in different poses, from sleeping to charging a bijuudama or playing around with each other and the prayers seemed to match the pictures in one way or another, The most prominent of which were to the Kyuubi.

After further looking around, he went back to ground level and started heading to that hall he had seen from outside.

When Naruto got there he was tackled by two children, both at the same age and red-headed "Tou-chan" both of them cried. When he looked up, he saw a dark-haired beauty smiling at him and his obvious children.

He then looked around and on the opposite side to the double-doors there was the white Uzumaki-swirl, surrounded by four small red swirls. Under that there was writing, which said: "This is the home of the Uzumaki clan of Konohagakure and sanctuary to the Bijuu and their Jinchuriki."

After reading that… he woke up.

* * *

Naruto smiled the whole morning, from getting up from bed and introducing himself to tsunami, to breakfast and so on. So much so, he was getting weird looks and questions from his two awake teammates, which he just answered with: "I had a great dream."

* * *

Kakashi woke up with a start, noticing something was missing and sending Sakura to fetch the two boys. When they arrived, he explained the situation. "I think it'll be best to just break it to you. Zabuza's alive."

"What?" all of them cried "But sensei. Didn't you check if he really is dead?" Sakura asked.

"I did, but I was wrong. Didn't you notice what kind of weapon was used on him?"

"Senbon" answered Sakura, realizing the thruth.

"Exactly. Senbon. Senbon aren't usually used for killing and can be used to put someone in a deathlike state. Besides: a hunter-nin is supposed to destroy a body on sight, but he took it with him. Ergo: Zabuza is very much alive." Explained Kakashi, thereby frightening his genin.

"What now, sensei?" asked Naruto. He remembered how hard it was to fight against Zabuza and just imagined how hard it would be to fight two enemies of his caliber instead.

"Easy. You'll train." Answered Kakashi, gaining the attention of his team.

"But what will a little training do?" asked an unsure Sakura.

"Sakura. Who saved me from the water prison and thereby won the fight? Naruto, wasn't it? You see, when you're using a little teamwork, and that's what Naruto did with his clones, and have some skills, you'll be able to overcome everything." With that Kakashi took the crutches leaning on the wall next to his bed and led the team outside and into the forest.

"Now. You'll learn the tree-climbing exercise. " Kakashi said.

"But sensei. I already know the tree-climbing and the water-walking exercise." Naruto responded.

"Uhm… we all know how to climb trees, Kakashi-sensei" said Sasuke, confused, his teacher would try to teach them such a lame skill. Especially for combat.

"Heh. Naruto if you can do it already would you please show them?"

"Of course, sensei." Naruto nodded, turning to a close tree and walking up to it. Just one step in front of it he set his foot on the trunk of the tree and walked up vertically to a low branch and stand on it upside down.

At the astonished looks of his students Kakashi explained: "you use your chakra to stick to the surface. What you have to be careful with is: you have to use the chakra to affect things outside of your body not inside. If you use too little, you won't be able to stick to the surface and if you use too much you'll be blown away." After seeing their nods Kakashi turned to Naruto "Ok Naruto since you're done with this and you said you're done with the water walking as well, I'll leave you to your own devices, but I expect you to train. Is that clear?"

"Crystal, sensei."

With a nod Kakashi turned to watch his two other students work on the tree walking.

* * *

Naruto on his part walked for a while and came to a clearing. Seeing it was the perfect spot to train, he made ten Kage Bunshin and sent them to train on several minor things, as well as sealing, taijutsu and basic wind manipulation.

When he went to do his physical training he heard Kurama speak: '_Hey Naruto! You need to train in demon mode. Of course you shouldn't depend on it too much, but it'll shorten the time you'll need to physically train. Not by much of course, but it'll help none the less. Besides: you could use more Kage Bunshin and let them work in groups. If one of them dispels when they made a certain amount of progress, the others will gain that progress, as well as you, and will learn much faster.'_

At that Naruto nodded 'thanks a lot, Kurama-Jiji.' _ 'Ah don't be like that, I'm glad to help'_ answered an amused fox-bijuu.

After making some more Kage bunshin, twenty to be exact, and sending them off to assist the others, he asked: 'Ok, jiji, how do I enter the demon mode, now? You got any pointers?'

'_Of course, Ku, (people who know will, from now on, also refer to him as "Ku" or "Kuramamaru" from time to time, I'll keep it as an endearment, so that you won't be confused by it) usually an Uzumaki is at the foremost able to activate the Oni-modo (demon mode) by being in a dangerous or extremely emotional situation, but only if the emotions are in the negative, like hate, wrath, fear etc.. But we want you to be able to use it at any given time with the least backlash possible. One example for that is that you weren't able to use the uzuken before I intervened and helped you to get back into demon mode._

'_So I'll have to explain what happens when you get afraid or angry or stuff like that. When you experience one of these emotions, your body produces adrenaline, which has two effects: first, it makes your muscles tense, to gain better reaction time. And second and much more important to us now: it makes your chakra flow faster and with a lot more intensity through your body, especially towards your muscles. And That's what we're going to do: channel chakra through your whole body. Just don't let it flow outside your body, you may have lots and lots of chakra, but there is no need to waste any.' _

'_there also is one more thing: you'll notice if you ever come across a member of the Uzumaki clan. Some might not be able to activate Oni-modo with emotions and thereby might not even know what they are but they still have most traits, like red hair, which you don't have while most Uzumaki do, fast healing and through that stronger bodies, as well as special chakra in many cases._

Armed with new knowledge and a new goal, Naruto sat down cross-legged and started trying to use this technique.

With that the days went by. It was not long until the first week was already over and Kakashi estimated it to be two weeks until Zabuzas attack.

* * *

In this week not much has happened aside from Naruto being able to use his Oni-modo more freely. His usage of it was far from perfect, but it was enough to accelerate his training. Meanwhile, Sakura was strengthening her chakra reserves through tree-walking and Sasuke was still having trouble with it. If you think that Naruto needed half a week with four Kage Bunshin, there is nothing to be ashamed of.

Furthermore Inari, the son of Tsunami, moped around so much that he received a tounge-lashing by Naruto, who told him about how bad people have it in town as well as how hard Sasuke and Naruto had it themselves.

Further Naruto was once again dragged into his mindscape by Kuarama in this week.

* * *

"Hey Kurama-Jiji." Waved a hyper Naruto. Kurama had really grown on him the last few days. You have to imagine an orphan finding a relative who cares for him.

"**Hey Ku-chan."** Said the fox demon, smiling at Naruto.

"So. What did you want to talk about with me?" asked Naruto.

"**Heh. Right to the point, huh? Alright. What I wanted to talk to you about is the Uzumaki. First of all: as you're the heir to the clan and prince to the country I expect you to restore the Uzumaki clan and, if it serves your peoples' interest, reclaim Uzu no Kuni."** This gained him a nod from Naruto. **"Now. Another thing is: the Uzumaki didn't simply die out. They scattered, meaning you will most likely come across other Uzumaki. One trait that all the Uzumaki of the leading family have, is the ability to notice if someone is Uzumaki or not. So if you ever come across one, you'll notice.**

"**It may even be, that their demonic heritage is very low, but the Uzumaki always keep some traits, like fast healing, special chakra, certain talents in sensoring, things like that. If you find one, I expect you to get them to either join you or for you to kill them. The clan may have split up for safety, but there is no space for traitors in it."** By that moment Naruto had a shocked look on his face. He would never think, Kurama, his Kurama-jiji would ever say something like that. Especially killing his family. It might be right, that there mustn't be stray Uzumaki, using their special traits to possibly fight off the Uzumaki clan in Konoha, and perhaps giving an enemy information, but they were still family after all

"I… I'll try. But you should know I'll give them a chance to come with me before I'll do that." Naruto said, a little shakily.

"**I expect nothing less of you, Naruto. Remember: Nothing comes before family and friends. But if family endangers friends and other parts of the family, you strike them down like everyone else!"** The demon exclaimed with a snarl.

* * *

In the second week, when Naruto overdid it with his training and fell asleep in the middle of it, he met Haku, a boy just one or two years older than Naruto, who was looking for herbs in the forest. What Haku then told Naruto, would accompany Naruto for years to come: "One only gets strong if they have something to protect." He already guessed that one fact, but it's always good to have someone agree with you, isn't it?

* * *

At the end of those training weeks, Sasuke and Sakura had the tree-walking down and their chakra-capacity enlarged. That of Sasuke was at high-chounin level, while Sakuras was at high-genin, which was a tremendous increase, compared to the mid- to low- chounin on Sasukes and low-genin on Sakuras part.

Naruto himself had decent control of his Oni-modo, so that he could turn it off or on at will, while still being able to use basic Uzuken. He still was far from perfect with it, since he had problems with taijutsu and most ninjutsu aside from Kage Bunshin and replications of the Onipo-ninjutsu he already used. Aside from that he used his Kage Bunshin to keep training in the other areas, like wind-control, a little water-control, seals and Uzuken and Uzusōkon kata.

* * *

When Naruto woke up on the day of the attack, he noticed something was wrong. Neither Sasuke nor Kakashi were in the room and the house seemed too calm for it to be morning with the team around, especially since they should've prepared for battle.

So he stood up to see if everything was alright.

When he walked down the stairs, someone knocked on the front door, after which Tsunami opened. Immediately there was a big ruckus in the house, Tsunami seemed to try and defend herself against an attacker, more likely two.

Naruto sped up, hoping he would not be too late or caught in a stalemate. He knows, even if there was a stalemate, since the attackers didn't seem like shinobi, there was no way he wouldn't be able to deal with that, but it's always better to avoid it and not put people in danger.

So Naruto sticked to the wall and walked up to the ceiling to look what exactly is happening. All the while Inari screamed at the top of his lungs for the now identified thugs to let his mom go.

Speeding things up, Naruto made several clones, spreading them out in a squirrel henge, while he himself stopped the chakra-flow to his feet and fell to the ground, deciding to confront the thugs.

They were still standing just a little out the door, dragging Tsunami with them with Inari following them on the pier that was so typical for Wafe country.

He immediately shouted for them to stop and release the young woman, at which both the thugs laughed.

"And how will you do anything before we kill her? " asked one of them.

"Like this" said Naruto, snapping his fingers. The instant he did that four of his clones popped up, two getting a hold of the thugs weapons and the other two slitting their throats. Of course the problem with that was: there were two civilians being sprayed with blood. Aside from that he felt the guilt rising up in him, stunning him for several seconds.

Kurama then knocked him out of his shock. '_listen, Naruto-chan. I know it's hard to get over you first kill, but you don't have much time. So since you can't handle it for the moment and you do not have the time to do so, just face it later, the others WILL need your help, if they really face two enemies."_

With that Naruto made sure his charges were ok and set off at top speed. He didn't use his demon mode, because he would be exhausting too fast if he did and he knew he needed to fight at his tops to beat Zabuza and whoever that hunter-nin was.

* * *

**Meanwhile on the bridge**

* * *

Team seven, in exception of Naruto, were fighting Zabuza and the masked Haku. And loosing, too.

At the beginning, Sasuke was excited to test out his prowess, especially since he wanted to show his superiority to Naruto. And up to the point Haku fought seriously, he managed quite well. His speed was enough to destroy several Mizu Bunshin of Zabuza at the start of the battle, and keep up with Haku for a while, whose strength lies in speed fighting. But that was about it.

As soon as Haku started using ninjutsu, he was done for. And as Haku then finally used the demonic ice mirrors, it was all over for Sasuke. There was no way, he could beat those.

Still, Sasukes' pride stayed so big, he was blind to that fact. And instead of thinking about a strategs to escape, he still tried facing Haku head on.

Kakashi was in no position to help Sasuke, due to Zabuza holding him down (binding forces, the most basic principle of warfare.), while Sakura tried defending Tazuna, which was the only thing she could even try doing.

So this was the situation Naruto was met with when arriving.

* * *

In the instant of his arrival, Naruto switched to demon mode and made several Kage Bunshin, to help out even the field in Kakashis favor. Which they did, extremely well. The enhanced speed, coupled with his newly-achieved prowess in Uzusōkon and wind chakra, Narutos clones were not only able to blow away the mist, but hold Zabuza off Kakashi. If someone watched the fight, they would've thought he danced around a giant. He then held Zabuza down long enough for Kakashi to charge a Raikiri, it still missed. Barely.

With Haku it was another thing.

The ice mirrors made it nearly impossible to get to Sasuke, without getting hurt and they also were a good defense for Haku himself.

Naruto then decided to make more Kage Bunshin and get into that dome.

He charged the Dome at full Oni-modo speeds, which were high chounin-level now. He also thought about using the chokuto, he acquired a week before the mission to wave, but then decided against it, as he saw the weapon Haku used: senbon.

But despite his speed, which was achieved through the training he did with Kuramas' help, Naruto was struck in his right shoulder by several senbon, letting him get slightly off course, as well as deteriorating his defensive abilities. He may have healed fast, but not THAT fast.

When he arrived inside the mirrors, he was greeted by a grumbling Sasuke. Something along the lines of a useless orphan playing hero… If only he knew…

Hakus' reflections showed up in the mirrors, but Naruto was still able to pinpoint his location through his amplified sensory abilities. He fired a "**Onipo: Hikō Surasshu**" at the mirror he knew Haku was at, which hit the mirror and skratched it, but Haku already dodged and arrived in another mirror, throwing several more senbon at Naruto, who could barely dodge himself, only being hit by some of the weapons thrown.

By that time, the mirrors were repaired already.

Naruto then made several clones, who, along with him, did the "**Onipo: Hikō Surasshu**" again, two for each mirror.

The mirrors shattered, showing a panting Haku, who narrowly avoided being killed by the waves of demonic chakra, but at the cost of his strongest technique, as well as most of his chakra. He was beaten.

"Kill me, Naruto. I have no more purpose in this world. I'm a broken tool for Zabuza."

"No, Haku. I won't. you 're far from broken and a tool is definitely not what you are."

"I'll do it!" Sasuke roared, his Kunai in hand and already running to Haku, ready to strike.

But just before he could do it, Haku used a shunshin to arrive as a shield to stop a second Raikiri launched at Zabuza. This time it would've hit.

Shock showed on the faces of those present, and slightly afterwards Zabuza started to smirk. But it didn't stay. Gatou showed up with a small army of thugs, declaring the contract with Zabuza null, after which Zabuza proceeded to slaughter the thugs and kill Gatou, being helped by Narutos left over clones.

* * *

Zabuza then had to lie down. His wounds, caused of a combination of enemy numbers and recklessness, were fatal, which all those present knew.

"Kid! Uzumaki kid!" Naruto looked up "Come over here."

Naruto did just that.

Zabuza raised his head a little. "If I could, I would give you Kubikirihoshou but as it stands you'll have to take it yourself." Naruto looked questioningly at him.

"What do you mean?" He asked

"I want you to take it and give it to someone who is worthy of wielding it."

Naruto nodded. "I'll do that."

"If you're the one to be worthy I wouldn't mind, but I honestly don't think it'll be your type of fighting. So… you know what to do?" Naruto nodded again. "Alright. Then I'll tell you something that might interest you: I heard of at least one Uzumaki in the Kiri-rebels' forces. This news just came in the day before yesterday. I also sent a letter to Mei, the leader of the rebel forces, telling her that you exist. She'll look for you, when she gets the time. Just… stay alive, gaki. You'll meet some more of your clan soon."

* * *

The following days were harsh for Naruto. On one hand he was praised as a hero to wave, on the other hand, he still had nightmares of him killing Kakashi comforted him as much as he could, explaining to him the good he did, but it was hard for Naruto to accept this. And even accepting it wouldn't erase the nightmares.

Still all around Nami ko Kuni Naruto was praised for his achievement and called a hero. Wherever he went, there were not only fangirls, who, unlike with Sasuke in Konoha, didn't chase him down all the time, but also shop owners and cooks, and housewives, always offering him something, like clothes, food etc..

The departure of team seven was scheduled for the day the bridge was done. And with team sevens' first steps on it, this very bridge was called after the 'hero of wafe'. 'the great Naruto bridge'.

* * *

When team seven arrived back at Konoha, Kakashi swiftly led them to be debriefed and then sent the team home, to do what they want.

Naruto asked Hiruzen for a talk later on and was then going home, getting his stuff sorted, as well as changing clothes, which were now mostly a dull, more red, orange than before, and departed to training ground 21.

Upon arrival he expected to see a training Hinata, but what he was was far from that.

Naruto hopped from tree to tree to reach the training ground, enjoying the sun and eager to tell Hinata, who became a good friend to Naruto in the month-and-a-bit, about his mission and perhaps about the other things he found out.

His steps faltered, when he heard a sob. Stopping he looked around to locate the source of the sound. Ehen he found it, he was shocked. There, under a tree, crying like there was no tomorrow, was Hinata. The Hinata, he always found smiling in the time they trained. The Hinata, who was too gentle to hurt a fly. Sobbing, alone, under a tree of their training ground, holding her knees and burying her head in them.

He immediately went down to try and comfort her.

With a thud he landed on the grassy ground, startling her, making her aware of his presence. Hinata looked up, shock in her eyes and when seeing him, she weeped even harder.

He approached the distressed girl and asked in a low voice: "Hey. Hinata? What is it? What's going on?" instead of answering, she just threw her arms around him and pulled him down to her, crying with her head on his shoulder.

Hinata calmed down about half an hour later and after Naruto asked her what was wrong, she told him about it.

"It's … my dad, really. The elders pushed him… to take my title as clan heiress away from me…" Hinata explained between sobs. " And now I'll have to be marked as a brach member. But my father doesn't want that to happen, so he's looking for a royal suitor for me, so that I at least won't have to be marked." Naruto was shocked and furious before that but now the only thing that held him back was Kurama. "And… only if I marry royalty, I will not be marked with the caged bird seal. And only if I find someone in a year at most. But there is no suitable royal under the age of twenty, and I don't want to marry someone so much older than me. I'm only thirteen, fourteen in a year." Hinata restarted crying on Narutos shoulder.

Meanwhile, Naruto had a conversation on his own. 'you know, Kurama-jiji. I really want to help her. But how?'

'_keh… ku-chan, It's easy. You're an Uzumaki. The Uzumaki heir, to be exact. You're royalty. You just have to go and talk to Sarutobi, then go over to Hiashi, who, if I'm not mistaken, owes your parents, tell him who you are and then… well… talk to him about a betrothal between you and Hinata. You like her a lot, after all. And she already told you she admires you at the day after you found out aboutme and you being a hanyou.'_

'WHAT? Are you serious? I'm too young to marry.'

'_So is she. So get over your shock and do what has to be done for your friend. Besides: you always wanted family, am I right?' _ Naruto physically nodded at that. _'you'll have family, if you marry her, won't you?'_

'true.' Naruto thought. 'allright. I'll do that now. I wanted to talk to Hiruzen-jiji, anyways.

"Ok Hinata. I just have to go talk to Hiruzen-jiji and clear some things up. I'll leave some Kage Bunshin here. As you know, they're the same as me and I'll get their memories, so don't think I left you behind, please. Is that ok?" this gained him a nod from Hinata.

* * *

Now Naruto went rampage. He had stuff to do. Heads to bash, People to shock, friends to help and ancestors to make proud. (here I'm referring to his parents as well as Kurama)

He was nearly in a trance, borderlining a rush, resulting in his oni-modo activating, while running towards the Hokage tower.

Instead of halting and even tyring to make the old man's secretary let him go up to the Hokage, not that that would be smart in oni-modo, he just walked through the lower level of the tower with an aura of authority, strength and power, which made the heads of all those present turn.

No one dared stop him.

Barging into Hiruzens' office, he said in a commanding tone: "Hiruzen-jiji! Send all of your ANBU out of this office. Now!"

The perplexed Hokage had to catch himself from staring at the changed teen, wondering how he was able to have such an aura of authority, not to talk of the strength he seemed to hold himself with.

"ANBU!" four ANBU kneeled before him "you heard him, get out!" they immediately left and Hiruzen activated the silence and privacy seals in the room.

"I told you to get all of them out, didn't I?" asked Naruto, still in his authorative form.

"But Naruto… those were all the ANBU in here."

"Then this one won't be missed." Instantly Naruto turned around and threw a wind-enhanced shuriken at a corner at the ceiling of the room. With a thud the body of a dead ANBU hit the ground. An ANBU with a mask with the kaji of 'NE'.

"WOW!" yelled Hiruzen. "NOW I KNOW WHERE THAT LEAK WAS!" he then turned back to Naruto "Thanks, my boy. This one really won't be missed. Now we can talk."

"And we have to, jiji. First of all: I know of my ancestry." This shocked Hiruzen.

"How?" he asked

"Easy. I met Kurama-jiji, or as you call him: Kyuubi." This shocked Hiruzen even more.

"So… are the legends true? About the Uzumaki being his children?" he asked.

"Yes. We are. Now to other matters. I want my clan-status to be made known. Aside from that I want you to help me set up a marriage contract for Hyuuga Hinata, the former heiress to the Hyuuga clan."

Yet again, Hiruzen found himself shocked of what he heard. 'A betrothal? At their age?' "Why?"

"Because it's the only way to save a good friend of me from being either enslaved or married to someone at least six years older than her. Hinata has to marry someone of royal blood to save her from the caged bird seal. And as you might know, I'm heir to both a clan and a nation. As you can see, I need your help. And I need it now."

"All right, Naruto. If you want this to happen, I'll help you. Your clan status will be announced next week. I'll help you set up the contract today, so that you'll be able to go to the Hyuuga compound tonight. You'll also receive a formal whirlpool kimono, so that you'll look the part. Anything else?"

"Yes. You said there is someone who could teach me in both my demonic traits, as well as seals, didn't you?" Hiruzen nodded "When will he be here? And more importantly: who is it?"

"It's Jirayia of the sannin and he'll arrive in two weeks tops, I really expect him to come tomorrow, but I know him. He's seldom punctual."

* * *

Naruto arrived at the tower at noon and stayed there 'til early evening. In this time, several clones of his dispelled, showing him Neji, Hinatas' cousin showed up to take her home. He left the tower with a similar aura than before, but this time he had less of a wild and more of an aristocratic aura about him.

This more royal and fiercely determined Naruto walked straight towards the Hyuuga compound, being greeted by one of the branch members, who, at first denied him entrance, after which two ANBU showed up, telling the branch member to back down and lead Naruto to Hiashi at once.

This was then how Naruto barged into dinner of the clan head and his immediate family.

After being led through the corridors of the Hyuuga compound, the branch member stopped before a door and asked Naruto to wait for a moment. Upon coming back outside, he bowed to Naruto and told him "Hiashi-sama awaits you, you may enter".

With a nod, Naruto went inside, bowing before Hyuuga Hiashi and his family.

"I am sorry to interrupt your familys' dinner, Hiashi-sama, but I have urgent issues to discuss with you." Naruto said, with a stern look in his eyes, if you don't count the blinking and small smile he sent Hinata.

The clan head then stood up and told Naruto to follow him to his personal study, where he activated the rooms' privacy seals.

"So, what was so urgent you needed to talk to me about immediately?" He asked.

"Take a look yourself." With that Naruto handed Hiashi the scroll of the contract.

Hiashi opened it. While looking it over, his brows rose higher with every word he read. When he finished, he looked up at Naruto with a shocked expression. "How is that possible?" he asked.

"Easy. I'm the Uzumaki heir." With that Naruto stood up, bowed and said:" Uzumaki Naruto Kuramamaru, a pleasure to meet you."

"That's not what I meant. How is it possible you're alive? I was told you, as in Kushinas and Minatos son, died and that you just were a random orphan Minato used to seal the Kyuubi into."

"Well. That was a lie. A bad one at that." Naruto said with a deadpan expression on his face, while sitting back down in front of Hiashis' desk. "So… do you accept my offer?"

Hiashi reread the contract then looked back up at Naruto. You could see the gratitude shining in his eyes. "Of course, Uzumaki-sama." With that he signed the contract. "Now. May I ask why you wanted this betrothal? You could have had women in a higher position easily. I think even the Fire daimyou would have been glad to marry one of his granddaughters to you."

At that Naruto smiled and couldn't help but snicker. "Easy. She's a friend and I tend to help my friends." Explained Naruto "That's the Uzumaki way after all. Besides: I always wanted a family, and with that I'm one step closer to achieving just that."

Hiashi nodded at that, stood up and bowed to Naruto. "I am glad my daughter found a friend in you, Uzumaki-sama." Then he smirked. "I guess it's time for us to stop using honorifics and furthermore we should tell her, don't you think?" at Narutos nod he walked out of the room and into the main familys' dining room to announce the betrothal to Hinata.

When he exited the clan heads' study, Naruto was much less intimidating. His Aura still held the same royalty, as when he left the Hokage tower, but it was much more friendly and inviting.

* * *

When the two of them arrived at the dining room, Hinata and Hanabi raised their heads only to see a smiling Naruto and Hiashi, who then sat down at the table, Naruto next to Hinata and Hiashi at the head of the table.

Hiashi cleared his throat to get his daughters' attention. "Well. It seems we found a suitable husband for you, Hinata. It seems the two of you already know each other, as he said you two were friends." Hiashi said to his confused daughter. "Hinata. Meet Uzumaki Naruto Kuramamaru,heir to the Uzumaki clan and Uzu no Kuni, your future husband."

Hinata did the only thing she could do in that situation: she fainted.

* * *

When Hinata woke up she noticed Naruto was gone already. Sitting up, she also noticed her father smiling at her. It was barely visible, but a smile none the less. She then proceeded to ask: "Father? Am I really going to marry Naruto-kun?"

He tilted his head lightly in slight confusion "Yes, Hinata. Are you not satisfied with this?"

"I am!" Hinata immediately blurted out. She then proceeded to speak more slowly "I am, Father. It's just… I lost all hope to be with him, when you told me I'd have to marry some aristocrat. I never thought he was one himself."

Hiashi grew amused at that. "Well… He is as royal as you possibly can be. The Uzumakis', and thereby his, ancestry goes back to the sage of six paths and to the first daimyo of fire country, whose wife was an Uzumaki, next he is heir to Uzu no Kuni, an island so rich in minerals you could exchange it with two of the major countries, aside from that, his clan helped set up Konoha. The fist Hokages' wife was an Uzumaki as well. The spiral part of the Konoha Hitai-ate comes from the Uzumaki clan, as well as the spiral our chounin- and higher-ranked ninja wear on their backs are the Uzumaki clans Insignia. Besides that… Naruto is like a prince to Konoha itself, since he's the son of the fourth Hokage."

Hiashi couldn't help but show a big smile, bordering evil at the thought of what he'll be able to say next: "He easily is royal enough to have his way with the elders, who dared try and force you into slavery, one way or another."

Hinata looked shocked at that. Her father didn't try to get rid of her? He was under so much pressure from the elders?

Upon her questions, he answered "One of the reasons I signed the contract Naruto showed me was the fact of you staying in Konoha. This would let me see you as often as possible and wanted, as well as it doesn't mean you have to move away and give up being a Kunoichi. Furthermore: I know you're training with his help and trying to create a new style, that suits you more than the original juuken. As you see, I approve of him in more ways than one and that's why I said yes to his proposal for you."

With that Hinata couldn't hold back anymore. She ran up to her father and hugged him, while saying "Thank you." A hundred times, least.

* * *

On the day of the announcement both were called to the Hokage tower, Naruto to stand before the villagers when everything is announced, and Hinata to stand by him and give him her support.

Of course, Naruto had to show up in a formal Uzumaki Kimono. He had gotten a whole wardrobe from Hiruzen the week before, along with several battle-Kimono.

The striking part about those Kimono were the red and blue, or white and blue pattern of either waves or swirls, along the whole fabric of the Kimono. All of them had a white swirl on each shoulder and on the back. (AN: it's usually worn in red, because Konoha mourns the Uzumakis' death, the real clan symbol, as in saying "I'm an Uzumaki", is white.)

The week before that the two of them talked a lot. About Hinatas family and history, about Nauro, his family, his clan, clans history as well as about his dreams and plans for the future. He told her about Kurama, his story, Narutos ancestry in a whole, as well as other things, like the treatment he got from the villagers up to this day. Yet even through the significance of what they talked about, the two of them also laughed a lot in that time and. Since Hiruzen recommended it to Naruto they often had physical contact, just some hugging, holding hands and lying beside each other up to that point, but it made both increasingly comfortable around each other.

The two also went to Ichirakus' a lot in that week and because some villagers and members of the Hyuuga clan tried to separate them on the way or at the stand, Hiashi had given them a special document, in which he allowed the two to be seen together, so that they wouldn't be bothered.

Additionally there were rumors about Naruto entering the Hokage tower as a humanoid demon or something and others about an aristocrat from an unknown country resembling him leaving the tower.

* * *

Naruto and Hinata were situated at the Hokages' office, where they could see and hear the announcement that was held from the roof. The whole village had to show up to this event and in the audience were all shinobi, excluding ANBU but including the Konoha 12. Down there people wondered what this announcement would be about. But what team seven and eight wondered about was where Naruto and Hinata were. Sure, Hinata could be with the Hyuuga clan, but that still didn't explain Naruto.

At one point, the sandaime Hokage stepped up on the Hokage tower, raising his hands to stop the murmur and gain the masses' attention. "Konoha! I am glad you came so willingly and in such numbers. I have an important announcement to make, concerning the heir to a clan of the utmost importance to Konoha."

Immediately cries of "Sasuke-sama" and "Uchiha-sama" could be heard and Hiruzen once again raised his hands to silence the crowd.

"No. It's not about the Uchiha clan. It's actually about a clan that was nearly forgotten. A clan, destroyed in the second shinobi world war, bringing Konoha to victory. A clan so fiercely loyal, they laid their lifes on the line for their allies and cousins. A clan as old as the Senju and Uchiha. This clan, whose leaders were not only clan-heads, not only kage or daimyou but all three at once, who named their heirs after a bijuu, who were descendants of the greatest legend to ever exist, the Rikudo Sennin, helped the Senju and Uchiha fund the establishment of Konoha, who helped the Shodaime Hokage fight Uchiha Madara, who trained the fourth Hokage in fuuinjutsu."

He made a little break and felt the tension in the crowd rising. "This clan still lives. Their heir was among us all these years. He was the son of two of the most powerful ninja of Konoha, who sacrificed their lifes against the Kyuubi to give him and this village a chance to live. Who sacrificed their son to keep it save."

"I know some of you already guess which clan I am talking about." A murmur went through the crowd, after which Hiruzen raised his voice "That's right! I'm talking about the Uzumaki clan!"

The reaction to that statement was instantaneous. Lots of villagers, expecially civillians, were confused, as was the Konoha 12… well… 10 in this situation. Some shouted something about a demon. Many shinobi were just standing there. Totally still and unable to move. Most of those thought about how stupid they were for not noticing the most obious kinds of things.

"Yes. Your proclaimed 'Demon child' actually is the heir to one of the most powerful clans in existence. He also is the heir to a nation, which is worth more than two of the big five. He is a prince to Konoha, a son of a kage. He is the hero, who the yondaime had no choice but to use to keep Kyuubi at bay with. And the most demonic thing about him is his ancestry, since all Uzumaki always were hanyou. But the Senju at the Shodaimes' line were as well. The shodaimes' wife was Uzumaki Mito, and the one who aided him in his fight against Uchiha Madara, in which she became the first Junchuriki of Kyuubi. She was the daughter to the ruler of Uzu no Kuni at that time and made a treaty with the Kyuubi."

Most of the audience was shocked.

"as long, as one of the royal family of the Uzumaki was his container, he wouldn't kill them by using chakra overload. So, before her death she let the Uzumaki send their current heiress to Konoha, to seal the Kyuubi into. This heiress, as some might have guessed, was Uzumaki Kushina, who later on married Namikaze Minato, the yondaime Hokage. On the day of their sons' birth someone attacked Kushina and released Kyuubi, placing him under a genjutsu. In the end the two did the only thing they could. They sealed the Kyuubi in the only one who would survive being his container:" with that he held out his arm to point at Narutos' entrance to the roof.

"Uzumaki-Namikaze Naruto Kuramamaru."

With that, Naruto, who got on top of the building together with Hinata and was still holding her hand, bowed to the crowd.

* * *

**Hey guys it's Dune again.**

**Please tell me what you think, so review, rate, do whatever you like, but don't flame, please. Just simply tell me when you think there is something wrong with my story.**

**Dune out.**


	3. Family

**Hey guys**

**I'm sorry to have you all waiting I was quite stressed out that last month.**

**But now I'm here with another dream so enjoy...**

**P.S.: it might be good to read the AN at the end as well, after you read the chapter. thx.**

* * *

As Naruto stood before the crowd, Hinata's hand in his, he was nervous.

A wreck.

There was no reaction from the crowd.

Was this a good sign?

Or a bad one?

Naruto was close to panic, his eyes started to dart around at the crowd underneath him, looking at the confused, sometimes awed faces, until…

Someone clapped.

And with that someone there came the first cheers. Until the crowd roared in cheers, only some turning around, showing their dislike for Naruto. Among them some main-family Hyuuga, some councilmen and, who else, one Uchiha Sasuke.

But aside from them, everyone was awed by the reincarnation of one of the most legendary clans in history, especially the younger generation, who never heard of the Uzumaki, aside from today.

They were astonished, that the Uzumaki and their family namely the sho-and yondaime hokages, kept Konoha safe from the Kyuubi, making it tradition even to have it sealed in one of their main-family, even though that would mean a great sacrifice, since the Kyuubi had to stay in Konoha to keep the balance of powers.

They were awed at the apparent power this ancient clan held, which seemed not too arrogant to sacrifice one of their best for the good of others and appeared to be caring for the people around them, unlike what people experienced from the Uchiha and Hyuuga.

A truly noble clan.

A legend.

But then the cheering calmed down and Naruto knew it was his turn to speak.

"Ah Uhm… I guess you all know about my dream to stand up here and hold a speech to you but… I would've never guessed this day would come so soon. Ok it's not as a Hokage, like I wanted, but yeah… you get what I'm saying." This elicted a chuckle in the audience. "yeah… ok uhm… What I want to tell you guys is: I initially didn't want to make my heiritage official to stay under the radar to people who would want to hurt me or those close to me, but I kind of did have to make this official, since a good friend of mine needed my help." This elicted a murmur.

"this wonderful person standing next to me is Hyuuga Hinata, former heiress of the Hyuuga clan, as many of you may already know. The thing is: she would have to be either married to a noble or sealed and put into the branch family in the next year. And since Kurama-Jiji, you know him as Kyuubi, told me what and who I am, I just couldn't let her either be married off to a noble at least five years older and thereby used as a bargain to get more influence, nor could I let her get enslaved by the Hyuuga clans' elders."

"that's why, about one week ago, I rushed into the Hokage tower to talk to Sandaime-Jiji about setting up a betrothal between Hinata-chan and me, my royal status ensuring that neither her, nor her children, can be sealed with the caged bird seal." The audience couldn't help but just stare at him dumbfounded. It was seldomly seen for someone to be this sacrificingly loyal to his friends to not only willingly marry someone he didn't love (yet) but to endanger himself for said person. And in form of an announcement, which made him the focus of several countries' lords.

"Ah I nearly forgot: the marriage will be held within the next year and… there are Uzumaki coming over from Kiri who are aiding the bloodline users in Kiri's rebellion. So if you see them, don't stop them from going to Sandaime-Jiji. … Ok that was all. Have a good day, Konoha. I love you all." And with a bow and under the cheers of many, Naruto stepped back and entered back into the Hokage tower.

* * *

A Battlefield. That was all he could see, however far he saw. In an area, full of fogs, cool air and dampened, muddy, soil as well as trees, looking like they tried desperately not to sink in. Fighting was all he could see. He stood on a hill, just watching the fights and cry was all he could do, he was unable to move, while both sides slaughtered their bothers for another, foolish, goal, set by some power hungry fools, who believed he was right in his cause.

The cruelty of many of the fighters was unlike anything he had ever seen before and the grins on some of the faces were mad showing madness and disturbing amounts of hate.

But the only thing he was able to do, was watch. He wanted to jump in, unleash his power on those animals in human bodies, but he couldn't.

Hours ran by, while he had to watch this going on, and on and on. In the end, both sides had to retreat, to save what forces they had and left behind an area, so devastated, no one would call it a peaceful sight again in the next two decades, least.

Most trees were only stumps and many were burning, the earth was scorched in several places, steaming in others. Bodies were laying scattered on the ground, both sides didn't trust each other not to attack one another while getting their fallen off the battlefield.

Naruto was still shivering and crying from the sight he saw.

Then everything went black

* * *

He woke up to a concerned and soaking Hinata.

The two of them tried to find a waterfall inside the village and per chance met with Kakashi, who then got an ANBU with both earth-release and water-release to come to a barely used training ground and just make one.

After that, Naruto tried to advance further in his wind affinity, as well as honing his basic water-manipulation, while Hinata tried to further her water-manipulation and tried to better her special taijutsus' defensive traits by dancing on the waterfall and using her chakra to push the water away from her.

Since Naruto wanted her to have the speed of Kage Bunshin – training available and he knew she was too low on chakra, to efficiently use them, he created a seal, which gave him the ability to store chakra to give it so someone, which then uses said chakra to refill said persons' chakra, as well as one with which he could just give someone his chakra instantly. He always carried some of both seals with him these days, no one knows when he'll need a chakra-boost himself, or when someone else needs one, after all.

so after his training for the day was mostly done, Naruto settled to watching Hinata train under the waterfall, which resulted in him falling asleep, even though he found her incredibly beautiful, especially so in nothing but a bathing suit, moving in a dance-like taijutsu, and with water swirling around her, which he thought would be a perfect trait if she was an Uzumaki. This resulted in him having that kind of dream he tended to have increasingly often. A dream that, while still being a dream, seemed more to him like a glimpse through time and space.

"Urgh… Hinata… sorry, just had a bad dream." He explained at Hinatas' worried look.

Just as Hinata wanted to ask what it was about, an ANBU arrived at their training ground and bowed to them. "Uzumaki-sama. The Hokage asks for your presence."

"What for?" asked Naruto.

"delegates from Mizu." Was the answer

"Alright. Tell him I'm on my way. I'll bring Hinata with me."

With a nod the ANBU left the two to their own devices again.

The two of them dried up and dressed again. Since Hinata was Narutos' official fiancé, she started to wear the traditional hyuuga battle-kimonos. Added to them were light blue swirling patterns, as well as a white Uzumaki-emblem of her right shoulder, just as the fire-symbol of the hyuuga on her left shoulder, while Naruto just kept using his Uzumaki battle-kimonos.

When finally arriving at the Hokage office, about twenty minutes later he was greeted by the sight of two red-heads kneeing in front of him, as well as a, auburn-haired woman bowing to him, followed by two other people, both with lighter hair color.

At a second look, he saw the two red-heads were a woman and a girl. The woman was about the age of twenty, while the girl would be around fifteen years of age. He immediately recognized them as Uzumaki by their familiar chakra signature.

the woman wore a battle Kimono similar to his own, with swirl patterns red and blue, while the girl wore a camouflage-styled one in light blue and white.

"Uhm… hello clan… women?" he asked, rubbing the back of his head.

The older woman answered him, still kneeing, with her head down "hello Naruto-sama."

He looked around for help, which came in form of an, obviously annoyed, Hinata. "Stand. He's not used to have to tell people to do so, so you'd have to wait forever until he says so."

"Thanks Hinata-chan." Naruto thanked for her help, rubbing the back of his head again. "And uhm… could you perhaps not knee in front of me at any time anymore? I don't think I'd get used to that. Besides: it's just Naruto."

The two women got off the ground just as he said that and looked at him with wide eyes, he noticed that the older one had turquoise eyes, while the younger one had blue eyes but was lighter in colour than Naruto. "But you're the clan-head! We have to show proper respect." The woman retorted.

"Yeah well… I don't want you to. You're Uzumaki, I'm an Uzumaki and as such we are family. Even Kurama thinks so."

At that both smiled and in tandem they said to each other: "That's an Uzumaki clan-head for you, alright!" after that the older one turned to Naruto "I am Uzumaki Beniko (red child) and this is my little sister: Uzumaki Kuikku (quick)." She said laying her arm around the girl, now named Kuikku.

"Ne, ne, ne, Naruto? Who's that girl with the pretty eyes with you?" asked Kuikku.

Naruto had to laugh a little at that "This is Hyuuga Hinata, my fiancé." This drew shocked expressions from those present.

The yet unintroduced Mei spoke up "you are betrothed at such a young age already? How can this be?"

"Easy I had to help my best friend. Hinata's the former heir to the Hyuuga clan and thereby unmarked. The elders of said clan forced her father to make her little sister the heir and to keep her save from the caged bird seal, Hyuuga Hiashi, said father, was looking for a royal suitor for her. So to save her from either being enslaved by a seal or being enslaved by marriage, Kurama and I came to the conclusion that I had to announce my heiritage and set up a betrothal contract. This way she will never be forced to marry someone she doesn't like."

As an afterthought he added: "And besides that I always wanted a family…" while scratching the back of his head.

"so uhm… who are the others with you?" Naruto then asked.

Mei walked up to him and said "I am Terumi Mei, leader of the rebel forces of Mizu no Kuni and those are Chojourou and Ao" (I won't add a description if you don't know them look it up) "my bodyguards and two of my strongest men."

Naruto bowed to the three and said "It's a pleasure meeting people travelling and fighting with my clansmen."

Chojourou greeted him with a slight stutter and a bow, which gained him a comment on how youths bowed too fast these days and how his stuttering would bring shame to a possible union (read: alliance), after which Mei threatened to kill him.

After seeing their antics Naruto askes his clanswomen if this is a usual occurrence which was answered with a deadpan "yes".

* * *

The next few days Naruto got to know the two Uzumaki and learned the reason why Mei came to Konoha. She wanted to look for allies and thought that, maybe, since the Uzumaki were an ally to Konoha, that Konoha still seemed to have bounds to, seeing that one still lived there, they would support the bloodline-rebels.

She was then told to wait until the chounin exams were over until Hiruzen could even think about the possibility of aiding the rebels against Yaguras' bloodline-purges.

The consequence was a frustrated Mei, an, at least, one-and-a-half months stay, and some hyper Uzumaki.

* * *

After Kuikku and Beniko heard of Narutos' participation at the chounin-exams, both of them started to train him in whatever they could. Kuikku was good at senbon-throwing, had knowledge of medical ninjutsu and strong sensory abilities, but she was best with the Uzuken. Beniko had an ability unlike any anyone from Konoha has seen yet, especially since it was no bloodline. She was able to control nearly every animal in her vicinity. Aside from that she was great at the Uzuken and used Uzusokon well enough for a jounin, called gekkou Hayate, to drop before her someday to ask her for lessons

Of course both were great at fuinjutsu, but no one has to say that, really… they're Uzumaki after all.

So, using hundreds of Kage Bunshin, Naruto trained with the two of them.

In his training he used to spar with them on occasions and one day he wondered about something.

* * *

"Ne, Beniko?"

"Hai, Naruto-kun?"

„Why are the two of you not using our clan's oni-modo?"

"nani? What's this 'oni-modo' you're talking about?" she asked not knowing what he said at all.

"it's our clan's special ability, aside from all those other things we gain from being hanyou." Naruto explained.

"WHAT? We're supposed to be hanyou?" asked Beniko

"You're actually not only supposed to be hanyou. You _are_ hanyou." Corrected Naruto.

"I didn't know." She said thoughtfully.

'_Naruto-kun. I told you there were some Uzumaki that weren't able to use it, didn't I?'_ mental nod '_yeah well… guess what: those two are some of them.'_

"Ok Kurama just reminded me of the possibility of some Uzumaki not having the oni-modo, but… it would be so great if you could use it. I mean: you are easily high-jounin level and Kuikku is easily high-chounin level. If you were to use oni-modo and in a controlled manner, you would be around low to mid Kage level with Kuikku being at least mid-jounin level, if not more." Then Kurama interrupted him.

'_Ku, I think I've got a solution to that.'_

"Uhm… Beniko please wait a sec, I'll talk to Kurama."

'so what do you have in mind, jiji?' he asked.

'_easy. There should be a way to reawaken my genes in those who can't use oni-modo anymore. I mean: look at your mother and you. Hers' was stronger than most of the last generations and your's is even stronger than her's. So if the two of us channel some of my chakra through your body and into theirs', they should be able to awaken this latent potential.'_

Naruto turned to Beniko immediately "Alright. There should be a way to awaken your real Uzumaki-powers. I'll just channel a little bit of Kuramas' chakra through your bodies, which will, by the way, not harm you, unlike any non-Uzumaki and well… that should do it. But you have to promise you'll train in using it, before actually using it for battle."

"Ok. That we will." She answered. "Kuikku! Come here for a moment."

With that the three of them sat down and when Kurama sent a sliver of chakra to Naruto, he sent the chakra further through the other Uzumaki, for which he had to use the chakra-transfer seals, which he could draw within seconds. He also didn't add a chakra-filter to the seal, which filtered out the chakra lacing Narutos' system by default.

Then, with a spike of demonic chakra, he gained a chakra cloak, which activated his demon mode. And with a spike of said chakra, he pushed it towards the two Uzumaki women, wo absorbed it as if it was nothing but normal chakra, instantly gaining the traits, defining the use of the demon mode.

Their fingernails developed into claws, canines into fangs and their eyecolour changed into red, with a slitted pupil.

Naruto then slowly drew back as much of the chakra as he was able to and returned it to Kurama, dispersing the chakra-cloak.

Then he told the two Uzumaki women to slow the chakra-flow to their limbs, and especially muscles, which caused both to struggle for a moment, until they managed to do so.

"Alright. Now the first thing to do will be training for the two of you to be able to activate oni-modo. For that, fasten the chakra-flow through your body. Your whole body. Just so much that you won't spill any chakra by getting it outside your body."

The next two days were spent on activating and deavtivating oni-modo, along with some control-training in said mode, when they were able to activate it by will.

In the following week, the two trained, so that they'd be able to use all of their skills in demon mode, which gave them a boost in ability, making Beniko just as strong as announced by Naruto, while making Kuikku strong enough to face most jounin of Konoha and fight them to a tie, even if only barely.

When Mei saw this, she was unable to believe their eyes. She came with a jounin and a chounin. And would go with a kage and a jounin.

That was like Konoha giving them seven to eight four-man-teams of chounin.

Something never heard of before.

How comes a genin can get two much superior ninja to nearly double in strength in just about one and a half weeks?

While still training himself in the ground.

And having a fiancé he also trains with. Especially if the rumors about him training her in fuuinjutsu were right.

That Uzumaki clan was just impossible to understand, much less beat. Now she understood, why it needed three of the great villages as well as many minor ones to destroy Uzushiogakure.

And when she fought Beniko herself, even she was hard pressed to beat said Uzumaki, the only thing giving her the victory being her experience in using her skills in battle.

* * *

It was a peaceful day in Konoha, like so many days were. the chounin exams were just one and a half wekks ago and Naruto just arrived at the training ground he always used with Hinata, which was a plain field, with trees surrounding it, a lake on one side and now there was a small cliff with a waterfall, as well.

But what he say this day was something not seen before: a crowd had gathered around the training ground, among them Hinata, and was looking at a pair of women.

To be precise, Mei and Beniko were standing in the middle of the training field, facing each other. Sarutobi was in battle gear and standing between them, his hand held up. Naruto then noticed he was acting as a refree.

When he lowered his hand, both sides dashed at each other.

What followed was a viscious taijutsu-fight, too fast for Naruto to follow with his bare eyes. When he used the oni-modo, he was able to see the movements. And what he was seeing wasn't good. Beniko still didn't activate her own oni-modo, meaning she was at her usual level of strength. All her proficiency in the Uzuken was for naught against Mei, a much more experienced and much more powerful kunoichi than Beniko was.

Mei already started to doubt what she had heard about the Uzumaki.

But then something happened.

Mei noticed Beniko's irises start to become slitted, her pupils turning red and her face to become slightly animalistic.

When Mei left her a second of room, Beniko fully tapped into her hanyou-powers, which gave her claws and heightened chakra-levels.

Mei's eyes widened at what she saw. She could swear she was standing before a jinchuuriki in release-mode. Yet she knew Beniko was no such thing. And as far as she knew, Beniko wasn't even a pseudo-jinchuuriki.

And still her chakra levels rose, her stature changed, her movements changed, her reflexes increased, as well as her speed and strength.

The next minute Mei was hard pressed to defend against the attacking Beniko. Both were still going full taijutsu, but Mei had a slight disadvantage. While Beniko used her claws to make even a blocked strike harmful, Mei had no such claws and used no weapon.

Then. At once. Both combatants divided and faced each other, Mei immediately shot a glob of lava at Beniko, thinking Beniko had to evade the attack. But instead of evading, Beniko just swiped with both her hands in direction of the glob releasing pure chakra.

Mei then noticed her say: "**Onipo: Hikō tsume**". Both attacks collided and Mei was surprised to see her glob be stopped. Instead of tearing through Beniko's attack, like Mei was used to, the Lava was ripped apart and cooled down immediately.

Up until this moment the fight was nothing special. A fight between two jounin-level shinobi. Aside from some exceptions (Hinata; Konohamaru) everyone had seen a fight on this level before.

But after this little exchange, the real battle began. Both combatants started flaring their chakra, having it spike to heights not many had felt before, especially not two times at once.

As Naruto felt it, he instinctively spiked his own chakra. Several of the shinobi present were astonished by the amounts he displayed. His chakra was not only even more concentrated than that of the two kage-level shinobi before him, it also was larger.

Of course the actions of those persons were not without consequences. ANBU from all over the village arrived at the training ground, weapons drawn, the less experienced in the audience started to feel uneasy, some panicking, some even getting sick or falling to their knees. As Naruto noticed Hinata's uneasiness, while standing beside him, he did something instinctual again.

He reached around her waist with his arm and channeled his chakra around her body, forming a perfect sphere around the two of them. The effect on her was instantaneously. She not only felt better, but also cared for, safe and, funnily enough, more healthy than before. It was as if his chakra was full of love, life and protectiveness for her.

After that many of those present turned back to the two kage-level shinobi, who prepared to restart their fight.

Beniko just got back in the battle stance for the Uzuken, looking straight at Mei, and growled out (remember she doesn't have full control of her oni-modo yet!) : "what you will now get to see, is but a fragment of the power my clan-head may one day wield."

With that both started moving. What unfolded now, was a blur of action, one jutsu followed the other, while both never ceased moving.

While running forward, Beniko swiped through the air with her left hand and sent an **Onipo: Hikō tsume **straight towards Mei, who stepped aside, retaliating with several Lava globs the size of small shacks, which Beniko in turn avoided by sending more **Onipo: Hikō tsume** as well as **Onipo: Hikō Surasshu **and dodging the rest, leaving a shower of lava in the way between her and Mei, that did nothing to stop her, skin being protected by a sheen of nearly-demonic chakra.

Beniko's advance was immediately stopped by Mei sending out a lava stream, building up a u-shaped wall of hot earth between them, after which Mei then used the delay to make several **Youton Bunshin**, who started to bombard Beniko with more lava-globs as if they were artillery. It still did nothing to said woman, for she sent out another attack Naruto taught her: "**Onipo: Konagona ni goon**" ("demon art: shattering roar" think Naruto's roar in his fight against Sasuke… just amplified by the amount of chakra used here), which renewed the shower of lava drops.

That was the moment after which everyone noticed: Beniko was still holding back.

Beniko rushed forth a final time, spitting out water and using it for **"****Suiton: Daibakufu no Jutsu"** (Water release: Great Waterfall technique) straight at the still hot wall, after which she sent several **Onipo: Hikō tsume **flying to destroy it. And created a Kage Bunshin directly afterwards.

Instead of simply rushing forward and using her demonic attacks, she now used a combination of demonic and elemental attacks. Since her affinities were wind and water, she used both in conjunction with the Kage Bunshin no jutsu to cancel out Mei's youton as well as her **Futton**, which she now started to use.

They let their jutsu clash another time, which created steam, which covered the area.

When the steam cleared you could see Beniko and Mei staring at each other, each with several clones out. What now followed was an all-out battle between the two groups, each using every skill available to them.

After about five minutes (that's long in a fight between shinobi), Beniko stood there alone, while Mei still had one clone left. That was when a pair of hands appeared from the ground, grabbing Mei's legs and pulling her underground, which was in turn avoided by a Kawamiri with the clone. Beniko's clone underground then dispelled and Beniko herself had to stop her oni-modo, being too exhausted to go on fighting.

After this fight there was a minute of no one moving and everyone staring in awe at the two combatants…

Until...

"Hell Yeah! Uzumaki are just so awesome!" cried Naruto, jumping in the air, punching it with her right hand.

Afterwards Mei found out that Beniko was still just in the beginning stages of her training with her oni-modo, which was an unbelievable fact to her. And she really asked herself how anything on earth could produce such monsters and how on earth some villages could destroy a whole village full of said monsters.

Of course the word monster was only referring to their power, not their personality.

* * *

What Naruto one day noticed was that his learning curve on fuinjutsu was a lot faster than most others, especially seeing it in the difference between his fast learning and Hinata's aside from that, he was told that it was an Uzumaki trait. Intrigued by that fact, he went to ask Kurama about it.

* * *

"Hey Kurama-Jiji" Naruto shouted, when he stepped into the cage of his seal.

"Hey Ku-chan." Replied a grinning fox. "What brings you here today?"

"Ah you know… I had something to ask you… I mean: everyone says, the Uzumaki were the most talented in fuinjutsu. And I noticed the difference between my learning speed and Hinata's. I am currently at a low-adept level, meaning I can craft my own low-level seals and copy those of medium difficulty. Hinata is only at an early beginner level, meaning she can copy the easiest and use more than explosive-tags but not yet medium-difficulty seals. In the time she needed to reach her level I was at a high-beginner level, meaning I could copy all low-level seals, create my first own explosive-tags, and use seals of medium difficulty.

"now my question is: why are the Uzumaki so much more talented talented in fuinjutsu than others?"

"**keh… yeah. That's a good question."** Kurama snorted amusedly. **"And of course I have an answer. I have already told you how the Bijuu were created out of the Juubi itself. Now. Where did my father learn sealing from? How did he get the power to seal the Juubi? It's quite easy: the Juubi itself was this source. Every single one of the Bijuu carries parts of the Juubi's power. Some in certain traits, like Shukaku, who can use sand or Matatabi, who uses fire and can revive the dead to be her marionettes. But every one of us also carries large amounts of much more potent chakra than a human can ever hope to have. And so do the Uzumaki.**

"**As you already know, the Uzumaki are not purely human, especially not a Jinchuuriki, like you. Beside that you are a descendant of the Old Man's daughter, who inherited the Sage's will, as well as a balance in Ying- and Yang- chakra. This combination of will, balance and concentration, which is in the chakra of every single Uzumaki, makes your brains function in another way, that enhances your ailities to learn and finally master a very creative, demanding and illogical art as fuinjutsu. All of this means that every single Uzumaki ever to exist, even if he or she was only a hundredth Uzumaki, would be better in the art of fuinjutsu than anyone who is not. And I'm glad it is this way."** Explained Kurama, ending with a smug smirk.

"Ah" said Naruto, smiling thoughtfully about the things he just learned. "So that's why, it's just really like with our great amounts of chakra." This gained him a nod from the demon. "So… how do you think I could teach others as fast as I am. I mean: I want Hinata to be as strong as possible and when we have children, which we might soon have since we will have to marry this coming year, I want to teach them as well and they wouldn't be pure Uzumaki at all, which would mean they'd not be as good in them as me…" he scratched the back of his head "do I even make sense to you in my babbling?"

"**Bwahahaha! Ah… I like you, Ku."** He laughed for a while, before finally saying: **" And if I didn't you would totally annoy me with your questions. First of all: no, you can't give her the same attributes as an Uzumaki has. If you canneled my chakra into her, she would simply die. Even if you used minute amounts, she would still die a very painful death. But you can give her at least some parts of this Uzumaki trait by making her use those chakra-replenishing seals of yours, which are pure genius, by the way. I don't know why no one ever thought of that."** He snickered again.

"**But…"** he then added downheartedly** "She will never be as good as an Uzumaki in this. I really wish there was a way to make her even stronger than she could be now with all her potential used. But this will have to do. Just make sure you keep her safe, Naruto." **At this Naruto jerked his head up and his eyes widened. Since his first talk with Kurama, he called Naruto either 'Ku' or 'Naruto-chan' but NEVER just Naruto! **" She will be the matriarch of the Uzumaki clan and THAT means: she will be a target, as well as a symbol. And sometimes a symbol is worth more than an army. Always keep that in mind."**

"I will…" Naruto said looking down. He then looked up at Kurama "Will you help me?" he asked hopeful.

"**Of course I will!"** answered his ancestor with conviction flaring in his eyes and voice. **"she's part of my family's future. I will keep it safe as best I can!"** the giant fox said, standing up, showing off the giant being he was. **"And no one will stop me from doing it!"**

For a while Naruto just stood there and stared up at him in awe. Then his lips formed into a small, peaceful, smile. "Then no one will be able to harm her when I'm around. Thanks, Jiji."

Kurama on his part bowed his head towards Naruto. **"Of course, Kid."**

With a bow Naruto left.

* * *

While Team seven trained together before the Kage-level fight, afterwards Sakura and Sasuke looked at Naruto in a new light.

Sasuke saw him as not only a rival but also a measurement as to what he wanted to reach. He was also convinced that he had to reach Naruto's level or even higher to prove the Uchiha to be the elite and in his conviction he repeatedly challenged Naruto to a fight, which said person usually won without oni-modo (suiton+futon+Kage Bunshin rules… ok I forgot fuinjutsu).

Sakura didn't know how to deal with the now much stronger Naruto. First of all: she couldn't treat him as a dead last any more. Second he didn't ask her out on any dates any more. And third was her mother, who told her to try and get him to date Sakura.

All this only intensified after seeing Naruto dismiss his clanswomen.

* * *

It was another warm day in Konoha, when The Hokage, the whole council, the Kiri-rebels, Naruto and Hinata were standing at Konoha's gates. A crowd had gathered and formed a perimeter around them, with the way out of the village left free.

Naruto was once again wearing his formal Kimono, while Hinata wore her Uzumaki-styled Kimono for the first time. It was a cream coloured one with light blue swirling motives on it, along with a light green sash. It further had a white Uzumaki swirl on the back, as well as another white one on her left shoulder and the Hyuuga fire-symbol on the right, symbolizing the union that was to happen.

That was when Mei spoke up to the Hokage and Naruto, who was standing next to Sarutobi. "First of all I want to thank Konoha for its hospitality and… your assistance in our cause. And if we win… no **when** we win I'll see to it, that you gain an alliance as well as trade rights from it."

She then specifically turned towards Naruto. "And I promise you, I'll bring your two clan members back to you." The two shared a smile "Besides: I came here to get some Konoha shinobi, two squads of chounin, led by a jounin each perhaps or something. But what you and your clan gave me, is easily woth several ANBU-squads. Besides: if it's true what you said, that both will only become stronger over time, it'll be even more. We'll defeat Yagura and his forces in no time."

She then bowed low to Naruto "Arigatou Gozarimazu"

Afterwards she stepped back to let Beniko and Kuikku say goodbye.

First he and Hinata wrapped them in a hug respectively, wishing them the best for their travels and the war. But when they stepped back from each other, Naruto was in a more serious mood.

His aura changed to a fully regal one. one which shone with authority.

Being this way, he looked directly in the eyes of his clanswomen, switching from beniko to Kuikku, before he said to them, still looking into their eyes: "I hope for the two of you to know what I expect of you. As members of the Uzumaki clan you are to behave like one. You are to show the world about us still being here. You are to show your enemies about your strength. But most of all you are to show your allies and your enemies what it is like to fight and fight alongside a hanyou from the Uzumaki clan."

With that he started to grin slightly manically, switching into oni-modo slightly, just so much as to make is pupils turn to slits, his eyes turn res and his canines to lengthen. "Now. Go Hunting!"

At that the two women returned the manic smile.

The last goodbyes were said and the group from Mizu no Kuni left.

* * *

And Kakashi for his part was finally able to treat Naruto as the brother he saw him as and talked to him about his parents.

After team-training Hinata always came over to get Naruto and to train with him or do whatever.

One of these days both of them sat on the shore of the lake in training ground 21, leaning on a tree, with Naruto having his arms around Hinata's waist and her sitting between his legs, leaning with her back on his chest.

Hinata was wearing a tank top over a swimsuit and her hair was still slightly wet from training to combine her newly named Juuho style with water manipulation.

Naruto in turn watched her, while his clones trained in… well… everything really.

They were sitting there for a while, just enjoying the warmth of the day that Hi no Kuni was so famous for, when Hinata quietly said: "You know…"

"Yeah?" Naruto asked just as quietly.

"I just thought…" she paused another time before continuing:" we'll have to marry soon."

At that Naruto raised an eyebrow. "… And…?"

"Well… we'll have to have children soon after wards and while I'm all for repopulating your clan as soon as possible… I… I think I'm a little nervous about it."Hinata said with a weak smile.

Naruto smiled back at her and after a while said: "That's ok, really. I read up on stuff about couples having sex and… well… I even read those porn books Kakashi is reading all the time, which are totally shallow and one-sided, by the way. What I found out is: we'll have to find out ourselves, what each of us likes. And it would be best if we did before our first time."

At that Hinata looked surprised "how is that? How can we find out how we like it best if we don't actually have sex?"

"What I read is: that it's possible for men and much more so for women to have an orgasm without their sex having any contact with anything whatsoever. And how to do that to each other, as well as what we like, like soft or harder kissing, sucking on earlobes or breasts, stuff like that is what we can and, as said in the books, should find out before actually doing anything."

This gained a thoughtful nod from a reddening Hinata.

"Aside from that it is highly recommended to get used to being naked with the other before having intercourse as well as doing petting first, so we would be more relaxed when actually sleeping with each other…"

In this whole talk Hinata, even though she gained a lot of self-esteem and control over her fainting, was getting redder than should be possible.

And still her nervousness didn't fade, which Naruto noticed.

"Hinata" she looked up to him.

"Yes?"

"I… I want you to know how I feel about you." This got her attention and she nervously listened to him. She still didn't know if he felt anything else than a deep friendship for her and hoping he would not just tell her he was only sacrificing his own happiness to help a friend. "At first, when we joined the academy I actually didn't think much of you. You were that weird girl that was unable to speak to me, always getting red just by being looked at and too shy to ask a teacher a question if you didn't understand. Just a shy girl, that always was in the background. And when I caught you watching my clones' training, I didn't know what to think. At first I thought along the lines of 'does she want to hurt me, spy on the demon to use it against him' I didn't really think you had it in you, but 'no one knows until we find out', right?" she weakly nodded at that.

"Well… you then told me you admire me and I really couldn't help but be shocked. I never thought anyone besides the Ichiraku family and Sarutobi-jiji would ever like me, before actually proving them wrong in what they thought about me, which I knew would take a lot of time for most."

"But I liked it. I wanted to show you how strong you are, which blew in my face actually, aside from the side-effect of finding out about your inability to ever learn the Juuken the traditional way, because it's just simply the wrong style for you and then developing the Juusho with you. And then, over the course of one and a half months, you became a constant training partner, as well as a very close friend to me. After I found you crying, I was nearly desperate and willing to do anything to make you smile again."

"So I proposed a betrothal to your father, which both of you accepted, with you actually loving the idea of marrying me. I never thought I'd have a family before the age of thirty, even doubting that. And look at my life now. I can't help but think I'm the luckiest person in the world. I'm a clan head of a clan so powerful they can take on a Kage. I'm quite powerful myself, wealthy and respected by my home. But most of all: I'm engaged to the most beautiful girl I know and already talking about having children with her. I mean: how can I not be happy?"

When he looked down he saw Hinata looking at him with her wide eyes shining with tears of joy but what he said next would beat everything else yet said: "I love you." At hearing that Hinata immediately took his head in her hands and kissed him.

This was the first of many to follow.

* * *

The chouin-exams started slowly, just some minor genjutsu, a guy called Kabuto thinking himself as smart, giving out information about Naruto, his teammates constantly pissing him off, with Sakura's confusion who to pursue as love-interest and Sasuke's envy, as well as a written test, which Naruto didn't fill out at all, since he immediately found out about the real test and a tenth question.

All during Ibiki's speech for the tenth question, Naruto grinned, nearly manically, and sat ther totally relaxed.

Of course Sakura nearly had to jinx it with her fear of him still being dead last, but he just made a speech about not giving up, making the idiots around him repeat him and actually not giving up, so there were a lot of people in the next part of the exams now. Stupid flat-chested pinkettes.

Shortly afterwards another, female, proctor came in. Anko was her name and she was obviously into cruelty and blood. She told them to get to the forest of death, which was really the training ground 44, the next day to take part in the second part of the exam. And to come armed,

Naruto was still laughing about her belittleing of Ibiki, leaving the examination room, room 301, on the third floor.

But then.

He saw red.

* * *

**Now guys**

**I know up until now there have not been many challenges for Naruto, and the challenges that existed were easy to overcome.**

**of course this will change.**

**just by the way: what I wrote about every woman and man being totally different and stuff is all true.**

**so don't go and watch porn and think you have to first of all perform like those in the vid did, or think what they have is good sex, for it isn't good sex means doing what both (if there more just count them in) participants like and adjusting to those likes. nothing else :)**

**another thing: it would be great if you guys left me some feedback (both, saying it's good as well as saying it's bad and how to fix that is appreciated)**

**whoever finds typing mistakes can keep them.**

**Dune**

**out**


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